The death toll has climbed to six in Texas amid the “epic and catastrophic” flooding left behind in the southeast part of the state from Hurricane Harvey.
On Monday evening, Houston’s Mayor Sylvester Turner confirmed three deaths in Houston.
Three other storm-related deaths occurred in La Marque, East Montgomery County and the coastal city of Rockport.
Houston, the country’s fourth largest city, has been inundated with flooding as result of Harvey, which made landfall late Friday as a Category 4 hurricane and lingered as a tropical storm over the weekend.
The National Weather Service deemed the deadly flooding, which forced evacuations and wiped out homes, “epic and catastrophic.”
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has activated the entire Texas National Guard. The total number of guardsmen available to the state is roughly 12,000, and all of them will be used in support of recovery efforts in southeast Texas, according to Abbott.
“These guys have saved our lives,” one woman rescued by Texas National Guard soldiers said in a video by Staff Sgt. Tim Pruitt. Her husband and dogs were also rescued. “We’ve been in water all day, actually since last night, and we didn’t think help was coming. … Thank you so much.”
Abbott told ABC News’ Good Morning America on Monday that he expects the aftermath of Harvey to be “horrific,” leaving a mess that will “take years” to rebuild.
ABC News meteorologists anticipate that more rain will fall this week, potentially worsening the already dangerous situation.
ABC News meteorologists say about 20 to 40 inches of rain has already fallen in the Houston area. Rainfall totals could reach 50 inches by the end of the week.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said it began to release water from the Addicks and Barker dams early Monday morning to prevent uncontrollable flooding of the Houston metropolitan area as water levels continued to rise rapidly beneath torrential rains being released by the tropical storm.
Engineers were forced to start the process earlier than previously announced because water levels in the reservoirs had “increased dramatically in the last few hours,” officials said early Monday, adding that the release would likely cause additional street flooding that could potentially spill into homes.
“If we don’t begin releasing now, the volume of uncontrolled water around the dams will be higher and have a greater impact on the surrounding communities,” Col. Lars Zetterstrom, Galveston District commander, said in a statement Monday.
Meanwhile, officials in Fort Bend County, located about 45 minutes southwest of Houston, issued mandatory evacuation orders for residents near the Brazos River levee districts as the river reached major flood stages late Sunday.
