HOUSTON — Houston firefighters came to the rescue of three people trapped by rising water in the downtown Theater District early Friday.
The call came in around 4:15 a.m. that people were trapped on a sidewalk under a bridge.
Houston Fire Department crews in two heavy rescue trucks rushed to the 500 block of Preston St. near Smith St.
They spotted the three people down below trapped by rising water from Buffalo Bayou.
“They could not get out because the water level had risen while they were sleeping during the night,” HFD District Chief Hunter Schappaugh said.
Firefighters lowered a 35-foot ladder to the sidewalk and climbed down to assist them. They all climbed to safety and no one was hurt.
“We’ve made rescues in this location before, and under bridges further down, when the water was quite a bit higher and then people were pretty much hanging on to stuff," Schappaugh said.
He said they were grateful the rapidly moving water wasn’t higher this time because the conditions were dangerous for putting a boat in.
“The velocity of the water along with a large amount of debris in there, and the fact that it’s dark, three real bad issues for the boats that we have,” Scappaugh explained.
The thunderstorms kept HFD crews busy all night.
A family in the Spring Branch West area was thankful for their quick actions late Thursday after a lightning strike sparked a fire at their house.
The family made it safely from the burning home on Knoboak Drive, which is near Gessner Road and Hammerly Boulevard.
The same HFD crew had just finished fighting another fire caused by lightning just a block a way.
No injuries were reported in either fire.
The loud thunderstorms kept a lot of people up overnight and the rain caused some street ponding. Thankfully, there were no major flooding issues.
Rounds of heavy rain and thunderstorms are expected throughout today and overnight before things clear up early Saturday. Weather on Easter Sunday looks good.