Rosenberg residents defy evacuation order as Brazos rises

ROSENBERG, TX (KTRK) -- The Leach family has called their Rosenberg property home for more than forty years. It's never been an island before, but the water is slowly creeping around both sides of their house.

"We've never seen it this high," said Barbara Leach. " And of course everybody thinks I'm crazy for not leaving."





She, her husband Dan, her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren are not leaving despite the Brazos creeping dangerously close and having not yet crested. Their Rosenberg neighborhood is among those under a mandatory evacuation.



"I don't think it's going to get into our house," she said. "It's just going to cut us off. I don't think it's going to get up and bother us."
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They have moved vehicles to higher ground and belongings from the part of the house closest to the water.

PHOTOS: Flooding and storm damage across SE Texas


"It's just something to watch," said Dan Leach. " It's getting close to my house, but I don't expect it to reach it."



Thirty minutes away, along highway 6 in Missouri City, runoff from the Brazos is feet from running over the highway.



Not far away in Sienna Plantation, Fort Bend County road crews are constructing an emergency access road so residents don't get trapped if the water floods Sienna Parkway. The muck has already inundated nearby sports fields, an oddity drawing onlookers who cannot believe what they're seeing.



Sunday night, Missouri City Mayor Allen Owen and other municipal leaders sent police officers door to door in neighborhoods in which they have concerns about high water as the historically high river swells.

"The city is being proactive in notifying many of our residents of potential flooding," said Mayor Owen. "We wanted to be ahead of the game. We've been looking at maps. We've been measuring what the Brazos River is going to be doing."

The threat seems more imminent in Rosenberg, where the river has already claimed victims and threatens to inundate more. It is also flooding in Richmond; the flood meter for the Brazos is there and has already recorded record flooding at more than a foot and half above the previous record.