Parts of Fort Bend County remain under mandatory evacuation as the Brazos River is projected to crest at 57.5 feet by 9 p.m. Tuesday, nearly four feet above its current level, according to the National Weather Service.
That would break a 2016 record high. Already, more than 50,000 residents are under mandatory evacuation orders.
Fort Bend County Judge Robert Hebert said in a press release Monday that the unprecedented rainfall has put more stress on the levees than they can handle.
“…a flood of this magnitude is an 800 year event and it exceeds the design specifications of our levees, and is potentially dangerous for a good portion of Fort Bend County. A fifty-nine foot river level threatens to overtop many of the levees in our area. As a result, I am ordering both voluntary and mandatory evacuations for many of the levee improvement districts along the Brazos River, based on all specific facts pertaining to each levee.”
The Fort Bend County Office of Emergency Management has released a list of areas under mandatory evacuation:
Richmond Mandatory Evacuation Declaration / Declaracion de Evacuaciones Mandatorias en Richmond
Rosenberg Mandatory Evacuation Order/ Orden de Evacuacion Mandatoria en Rosenberg
City of Simonton Voluntary Evacuation/Evacuacion Voluntaria en la Ciudad de Simonton
City of Simonton Mandatory Evacuation/Evacuacion Mandatoria de la ciudad de Simonton
San Bernard River Mandatory Evacuation & Brazos River Voluntary Evacuation [Text]/Evacuacion Mandatoria en el Rio San Bernard & Evacuacion Voluntaria del Rio Brazos
Residents in Fort Bend County Living Within Some Levees [Neighborhood Names]/Residentes en el Condado de Fort Bend que viven alrededor de algunos diques.
This article appears in Aug 25-30, 2017.
