Page 6 - Aruba Today

A6

U.S. NEWSMonday 26 October 2015

Texas spared destruction from Hurricane Patricia’s remnants

PAUL J. WEBER Eleazar Sanchez wades through high water Sunday, Oct. 25, in the Western Hemisphere had drought conditions we
Associated Press 2015, in Houston. Drenching storms that the remnants of Hurri- caused remarkably little were dealing with.”
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — cane Patricia dragged into Texas finally cleared Sunday without destruction, and what was Lessons learned from the
Drenching storms that the leaving behind the death or devastation of torrential rain and left of Patricia by the time May floods also seemed
remnants of Hurricane Pa- floods that hit the state earlier in the year. the weakened storm strag- to keep more drivers out
tricia dragged into Texas gled into parched Texas of danger, authorities said.
finally cleared Sunday (Jon Shapley/Houston Chronicle via AP) was greeted with both re- Only roughly two dozen
without leaving behind the lief and unease. cars were towed from
death or devastation of tor- len bayous around Houston Henry, who had issued a A hot and dry summer in flooded roads in Houston
rential rain and floods that receded and closed roads voluntary evacuation cov- Texas revived drought con- and emergency crews re-
hit the state earlier in the reopened in Austin, day- ering roughly 4,000 homes. ditions that a wet spring all sponded to only a handful
year. break also revealed scant Patricia roared ashore in but wiped out. of rescues, said Francisco
Some parts of Texas have damage. Mexico on Friday as a Cat- A deluge in late May over- Sanchez, a spokesman for
been pounded by more “We’re going to stand egory 5 terror that barreled whelmed saturated ar- Harris County’s emergency
than a foot (30 centime- down the emergency man- toward land with winds up eas and caused deadly management division.
ters) of rain since Friday, agement operations and to 200 mph (320 kph). But flooding, and nine inches “The public responded
shutting down busy high- call it a day,” said Galves- the arrival of the most pow- (22.5 centimeters) of rain well.
ways and derailing a train. ton County Judge Mark erful hurricane on record dumped in parts of Houston For the most part they
But relentless showers were this weekend was the most heeded our warnings,”
gratefully the only compar- since those spring storms. Sanchez said.
ison to storms in late May But officials said months of The soaking helped fire-
that killed more than 30 sweltering Texas weather fighters near Austin fully
people in Texas and Okla- made for a more manage- contain a long-simmering
homa and stranded 2,500 able drenching, which also wildfire that had burned
cars around Houston. fell at a steady rate instead 7 square miles (18 square
One man remained missing of in buckets. kilometers) and destroyed
near San Antonio after au- “We had much drier nearly 70 homes. Clearing
thorities say he was caught grounds that could handle skies also allowed a For-
by floodwaters, but no more of the rainfall and mula One championship
deaths in Texas have been soak it in,” National Weath- in Austin to proceed after
confirmed. er Service Meteorologist the rain washed out week-
By Sunday morning, as swol- Scott Overpeck said. “We end qualifying laps and
threatened a race that
Alaska man stranded in Russia after flight canceled brings fans from around
the globe.
RACHEL D’ORO iting friends and family on money to charter a plane mately cut off. On Saturday, a Union Pa-
Associated Press the other side of the Bering and bring him back home “I don’t know what kind of cific freight train derailed
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) Strait. to Savoonga, a Yup’ik Es- trouble he’s facing,” she before dawn Saturday
— Sivoy Miklahook booked Now the 25-year-old Alas- kimo village on Alaska’s said in a phone interview. near Corsicana, about 50
his flight to Russia when ka Native is stranded in a Saint Lawrence Island Sivoy Miklahook has a Nov. miles (80 kilometers) south
there were no scheduled foreign country with no im- near the Russian border. 14 deadline to leave, he of Dallas, because a creek
return flights to Alaska, mediate way home. His mother, Carol Mikla- said on Facebook, where overflowed and washed
but he figured something As his visitation deadline hook, said her son called he talks about how help- away the tracks, said Jeff
would come up while he approaches, his friends in recently, but their con- less he feels.q DeGraff, a railroad spokes-
lived out his dream of vis- Alaska are rallying to raise nection was poor and ulti- man. q