ROSENBERG, Texas — The seemingly ceaseless rain swept across areas of Texas again on Saturday, bringing fears of renewed flooding but no new serious problems.
At least 31 people have been killed in storms that began in Texas and Oklahoma over Memorial Day weekend. Twenty-seven of the deaths have been in Texas alone, and 11 people were still missing Saturday.
As much as 3½ inches of rain fell Saturday afternoon and evening in Houston. Officials said bayous were responding well and no new evacuations were ordered or recommended in low-lying and riverfront areas of Southeast Texas outside the nation's fourth-largest city.
The Brazos River southwest of Houston was the main area of concern as floodwaters moved from North and Central Texas downstream toward the Gulf of Mexico. Floyd Preston's home in the Houston suburb of Rosenberg is about 100 yards from the flooded river and three houses from a police barricade marking the evacuation zone.
"I'm going to stay for the time being. This is not the first time for a flood. One way or another, when your time comes, it could be on dry land or water," the 66-year-old said as he was trimming his lawn, adding that the closest floodwaters had gotten in the past was about 50 yards away.
A creek that empties into the Brazos River — which reached 49 feet and is expected to rise until Monday morning and crest at 50 feet — went up 4 feet between the time Ricky McCullough, 47, and a friend measured it on Friday night and Saturday morning. An alligator poked its snout above water as he talked, followed by a black water moccasin slithering along the muddied water.
"I'm concerned about it enough, but I'm a lot more concerned because we have a lot of older people living down here," he said.