Texas hit with 30 inches of rain in 24 hours during extreme flash-floods as rescues of trapped residents underway - The Independent

Rain fell at a rate of five inches an hour in some areas, overwhelming streets and trapping residents inside their homes. In Livingston, a woman and her four children were pulled to safety after a nearby creek overflowed and flooded their mobile home. Drivers across the affected area also had to be rescued from their vehicles after getting stranded on roads swallowed by floodwater.

For folks in Lubbock, this kind of rainfall is almost impossible to picture. The South Plains averages around 18 inches of rain for an entire year, and this region of Texas absorbed nearly double that in a single day. Flash-flood watches are nothing new here, but the scale of what hit the Houston area puts our typical West Texas storm events in a different category entirely.

The situation was still developing as rescues continued, with a flash-flood emergency declared for parts of the affected counties. Power outages compounded the danger for residents already dealing with flooded roads and rising water inside structures.