This archive report was first published on 21 September 2019.
Published on September 21, 2019, a devastating tropical cyclone, Imelda, left a trail of destruction in Texas, claiming at least three lives and causing historic rainfall.
As the storm subsided, authorities were still searching for Trevor, a missing person, whose whereabouts had been a subject of speculation. A Greyhound bus stranded on flooded Interstate 10 had been a potential lead, but it turned out to be a false alarm.
Chief Rod Carroll of the Vidor Police Department, who had been orchestrating water rescues from his police station, estimated that a few hundred homes in the area had flooded. His own home was among them, with water rising to a foot and a half in just a few hours.
'It came in like a wall,' Chief Carroll recalled, describing the rapid flooding.
Residents in the affected areas were still reeling from the disaster, with many facing a long and difficult road to recovery. Chief Carroll estimated it would take around 14 months to rebuild his community, similar to the experience during Hurricane Harvey.
As the people of Texas began to pick up the pieces, the full extent of the damage was becoming clear. The National Weather Service reported that areas southwest of Beaumont had received an extraordinary 43 inches of rain, making Imelda the seventh-wettest tropical cyclone on record in the United States.
