Tropical storm Allison hits Houston, Texas 2001

I lived in Houston, Texas in the US from January 2001 to April 2002. During that time, the country was hit by the twin tower attacks on 9/11, but Houston was also hit by another disaster, the Tropical Storm Allison, that claimed about 20 lives. When we say storm here, it doesn't necessarily mean strong winds. This was just the problem with Allison: No wind. The extreme downpour of rain didn't sweep over the country at high speed giving only 30 minutes of extreme rain at each spot. It stayed put, causing the worst hit areas to receive more than 20 inches (50 cm) of rain in one day. Other parts of town only received 2 inches, like where I lived. Friday night I drove home from work, water on the roads were up to 4 inches. In my high clearance SUV I got home safely. Some 80,000 other vehicles were drowned. The day after I went dontown for a convention, not knowing the full scale of this. I soon found out, the convention was cancelled. I rushed home for my camera, and took the shots you see below. A few months later, when things were normalized, I went back to the same spots to shoot the same locations. I guess the pictures tell the rest....

(c) Thomas Høven 2004