Culture

Officials Warn Residents South Of Houston To Leave After A Major Levee Breach: ‘Get Out Now!’

Ahead of Tropical Storm Harvey’s third landfall, authorities in Brazoria County just south of Houston issued a frightening warning regarding dangerous water levels. “NOTICE,” it began with all-caps lettering atop a deep red background. “The levee at Columbia Lakes has been breached!! GET OUT NOW!!” CNN’s John Berman broke the news mid-broadcast, noting that “portions of that county have been under a mandatory evacuation for a couple of days now. Hopefully, most of those people in that area have left already.”

Columbia Lakes is a neighborhood located in the southern portion of Brazoria County, where it is surrounded by the towns of Angleton, Lake Jackson and Brazoria. A mere 25 miles or so from the Texas coastline, it sits near the city of Freeport and several other coastal areas dominated by the state’s oil and gas industry. The general area wasn’t hit nearly as hard as Galveston, Rockport and Port Arthur to the immediate northwest, though plants, other businesses and residential areas have largely been closed or evacuated entirely.

Earlier on Tuesday, a report by local ABC affiliate KTRK indicated the Addicks Reservoir due west of Houston might spill over for the first time in its history. Controlled releases of it and the nearby Barker Reservoir’s contents were performed with limited success, but continued rainfall suggested the Addicks Dam ultimately wouldn’t be enough to contain the deluge, per the Army Corps of Engineers.

(Via CNN & KTRK)