Houston braces for more serious flooding from another storm

HOUSTON (AP) — The Houston area braced for more serious flooding as heavy rain and hail pelted the nation’s fourth largest city for the second time this week, threatening to send some streams over their banks.

The National Weather Service said some areas received as much as 3 inches (76.2 millimeters) of rain an hour late Thursday.

It issued a flash flood advisory for five counties in southeastern Texas including Harris, which includes Houston. The Barker Dam area near Houston received nearly 6 inches of rain Thursday evening, the weather service said.

Local media reported that the storms left as many as 100,000 customers without electric power and dozens of local roads covered with water, making driving treacherous.

Houston has repeatedly faced flooding in recent years because the city has insufficient drainage and experienced rapid development that reduced wetlands.