HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Many Houstonians didn't expect to spend part of their Fourth of July stuck on flooded roads.
The storm hit the Houston area on Wednesday morning, submerging several streets and highways. At one point, I-10 at Washington was shut down and drivers were seen turning around on the highway to avoid the high water.
Emergency crews and even good Samaritans rescued people who were unable to get out of high water.
As of 2 a.m. Thursday, Houston police said they removed and towed 167 vehicles from roadways that flooded.
The City of Houston was forced to cancel the Freedom Over Texas festival due to the storm and flooding.
The Independence Day flooding brought back bad flashbacks of Hurricane Harvey, but city officials said they were prepared this time around from the lessons they learned from the devastation nearly a year ago.
"We have more assets than we did during Harvey, more assets that are readily available, so we had about 12 high-water trucks positioned throughout the city, about 43 boats positioned throughout the city, but we didn't have any calls for rescues," Mayor Sylvester Turner said.
