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CNN Live Saturday

Houston Flooded by Tropical Storm

Aired June 09, 2001 - 13:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DONNA KELLEY, CNN ANCHOR: We begin in Texas, where the Houston area has become a wetland. After five days of heavy rain and flooding, the governor has declared 28 southeast Texas counties a disaster area.

Blame it on tropical storm Allison. It dumped nearly two feet of rain on the area, and it's not over yet. Houston Mayor Lee Brown is asking for boats and water rescue teams, and the National Guard in Austin is standing by if needed. Houston officials say at least 3,000 homes and businesses are damaged, and 10,000 families have been displaced.

Folks covering the disaster have not been spared either. Flood waters crept into the studios of CNN affiliate KHOU TV early this morning, temporarily forcing the station off the air.

And with roads flooded and transportation at a standstill, affiliate KTRK offered its news helicopter to transport bone marrow to a local hospital. That was for a cancer patient's transplant surgery.

When Allison made landfall on Tuesday, it stalled, and we want to find out what's happening with that weather system now. Brad Huffines has that for us. Brad, what's going on?

BRAD HUFFINES, CNN WEATHER CORRESPONDENT: Donna, what's amazing about this storm, Donna, is that it got very little headlines. It wasn't one of these storms we talked about for day after day after day.

It basically formed in the Gulf of Mexico near Houston, moved inland and has sat and sat and sat. The good news for Houston, at least for the next few hours, is that storm system's center has moved just a bit to the east, focusing more of the rain in East Texas and southeast Louisiana.

A closer look at Doppler radar, showing that we are seeing the rains sliding away from the Houston metro. However, more heavy rains are still falling in parts of Southeast Texas, already soaked by this storm. Now, as the storm sits and spins and spins and spins, more rains are likely to develop, so this is not the end of this story.

More on this storm and the nation's weather coming up in just a few moments, Donna.

KELLEY: OK, thanks, Brad.

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