Heavy rains over Texas have led to water rescues

Officials in Southeast Texas, including the Houston area, on Friday urged residents to prepare for worsening flooding after days of heavy rains that have led to high-water rescues and mandatory evacuation orders.

“This threat is ongoing and it’s going to get worse. It is not your typical river flood,” Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo, the top elected official in the nation’s third-largest county, said Friday.

Officials said 26 people and 30 pets have been rescued from flood waters in the Houston area.

Hidalgo said a school bus carrying children northeast of Houston required a rescue after driving near high waters but that everyone on board was safe.

The Crosby school district said in a statement that the driver of a school bus carrying 27 students stopped his vehicle just before driving into high water. The students exited through a rear door and were taken to their campuses on another bus.