Driver deaths on flooded Houston-area roads prompt review

HOUSTON (AP) — The deaths of eight drivers whose bodies were pulled from vehicles inundated by this week's torrential rains in the Houston area have prompted local leaders to push for improvements in how they warn people about the dangers of flooded roads.

Texas Department of Transportation spokeswoman Raquelle Lewis said her agency is committed to working with city and county officials to find solutions to the problem.

Before this week's flooding, the city of Houston had already begun installing an early warning system at 27 locations where high water sensors and flashing lights are used to let drivers know that a road in front of them is flooded.

Gary Norman, executive staff analyst with the Houston Public Works and Engineering Department, said in an email that "we are constantly evaluating how best to protect and inform the public."

[...] residents living in a subdivision near the Addicks Reservoir, one of two aging reservoirs in west Houston that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers considered "extremely high risk," were warned of possible flooding.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began releasing water Thursday evening from the Addicks and Barker reservoirs into Buffalo Bayou at the rate of about 2,000 cubic feet per second, enough to lower the water level by an inch per hour, Corps spokeswoman Sandra Arnold said.