Rain floods homes, streets in Wharton, Kendleton

HOUSTON (FOX 26) - Wharton County is recovering from flooding after some of the heaviest rain hit that region overnight.

Wharton city officials say eight businesses and as many as 30 homes flooded during the rain that lasted all night and didn’t let up until late morning.

“We were sleeping, woke up, and it started flooding, flooding, and water came in the house,” said Kristina Aguilera who rents a house on Hamilton Street.

Aguilera says her house took in five inches of rain overnight. She and her family dropped everything to salvage what they have.

“I don’t know what we’re gonna do,” said Aguilera. “We’re working, but- I was working at Los Tocos, but I told my boss I couldn’t come. If he gets mad, he gets mad.”

In other parts of town, floodwaters reaches up the windows of businesses and cars were stalled on flooded roads.

“We’ve calculated 35 city blocks within the City of Wharton have been flooded,” said Chad Odom, public information officer for Wharton County Emergency Management.

In the county sheriff’s deputies were out rescuing people trapped by flooding.

“We’ve had no overflow of the river,” said Odom. “All the flooding we’ve had today has been from rain.”

Up the freeway in Kendleton, it was a similar story.

“So much water at one time, it started backing up into the citizens’ homes and kind of flooding the streets,” said Kendleton Mayor Darryl Humphrey.

Humphrey says the city is already in the middle of a study looking at ways to alleviate flooding during heavy rain.

“It’s supposed to come into fruition around 2021,” said Humphrey. “They should have the results of that.”

For those whose homes flooded, Odom says the Red Cross has opened a shelter at First United Methodist Church on Pioneer Lane.