"I think we don't realize how much it effects us, how much it helps us," said driver Valerie Hernandez. "Everyone's complaining about the drought and the brown grass, so I hope this brings green again. It's springtime and we miss it."
But the rain also made for some slick conditions on the roads. One pickup truck driver careened off the roadway and ended up on railroad tracks near Highway 90 and Grand Parkway.
And at one Heights-area neighborhood, a big tree came crashing down. "The husband had reported this tree to the city two weeks ago because a branch fell off, and she requested that the city needed to cut the tree," Heights homeowner Minerva Garcia said. Fortunately for the Heights-area homeowners, the tree fell at the right angle and caused minor damage. "Thank God it didn't fall on the house," Garcia said. "It looks like it damaged my fence." At the storm's peak, CenterPoint Energy reported more than 35,000 outages, but that number quickly dropped once the storm moved off past us. [Check current outages] At the airports, Bush Intercontinental and Hobby Airports had multiple flights to Dallas, Midland, McAllen, Alabama, Louisiana and Mexico canceled. Delays at the airports ranged from 30 minutes up to more than five hours. [Check airport delays] Even with Thursday's rain, it will take a lot more of it over a lot longer time frame to bust our current drought."That would be 12 to 18 inches of rain over a 30-day period," said Eyewitness News Chief Meteorologist Tim Heller. "The trick is we don't want it all to fall at once."
So until we get a month's worth of rain, the drought is not going away.
iWitness Reports
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