Swollen river feeds flooding near Houston as residents flee

RICHMOND, Texas (AP) — Residents of some rural southeastern Texas counties were bracing for more flooding along a river that reached a record-high crest on today but could swell further with more rain expected in the coming days.

Large swaths of suburban communities southwest of Houston were underwater and hundreds of people were evacuated from their homes before the Brazos River crested at nearly 54 feet in Fort Bend County, just two years after it had run dry in places because of drought.

The skies were clear in the affected areas today, but an additional 1 to 3 inches of rain expected later this week could keep the Brazos in major flood stage into the weekend.

"I'm scared," said Abigail Salazar, standing in knee-deep water outside her home in Richmond, where she was retrieving personal belongings after the city issued a voluntary evacuation advisory. "My kids ask me in the morning, 'Ma, what happened? The water is here.'"

During four days of torrential rain last week, at least six people died in floods along the Brazos, which runs from New Mexico to the Gulf of Mexico. A Brazos River Authority map showed that all 11 of the reservoirs fed by the Brazos were at 95 to 100 percent capacity.