Houston deluged, four reported dead in Texas floods

By Kristen Hays HOUSTON (Reuters) - Four people were reportedly killed when torrential rains that brought as much as 18 inches (46 cm) of precipitation pummeled Houston, causing floods on Monday that snarled transport and turned roads into lakes in the fourth most-populous U.S. city. More than 1,000 homes were flooded in Harris County, which contains Houston, and there were more than 1,000 water rescues as scores of neighborhoods and roads were hit by rushing water. "This is the most I have ever seen in the state of Texas," Governor Greg Abbott said of the rescues at a news conference, where he declared a state of disaster in nine Texas counties. He warned flooding will remain a risk for the next several days. Abbott also said Internal Revenue Service officials allowed extensions for taxpayers in flooded areas who missed their filing deadlines on Monday. Medical examiners said four bodies were found in the floods and are working to see if those people died due to the high water. Dozens of horses were rescued from a flooded stable near Cypress Creek. Television stations filmed some of the animals struggling in neck-high currents before Harris County deputies reached them by boat and swam alongside them to higher ground. Ed Emmett, the top political official for Harris County, signed a disaster declaration for the county. He told a news conference that 13 creeks and water channels designed for drainage had overflowed, causing floods that blocked roads to downtown and other parts of the city. Floods have also hit highways running through Houston, including Interstate 10, a major U.S. east-west corridor. Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner canceled his State of the City speech planned for Monday, instructing all non-essential city employees to stay home. "This not the day to be on the roads in the city of Houston," Turner told reporters. The city temporarily turned one shopping mall into an evacuation center. More than 40,000 customers were without power in the Houston area on Monday afternoon due to the severe weather, CenterPoint Energy reported. As of 5 p.m. CDT (2200 GMT), more than 1,200 flights at major airports in Texas were canceled, according to tracking service FlightAware.com. There were no significant impacts reported for oil fields in Texas and the belt of refineries around Galveston Bay. The rains were expected to cause rivers to crest later in the week, bringing floods to downstream areas, the weather service said. (Writing by Jon Herskovitz; Additional reporting by Terry Wade and Erwin Seba in Houston and Jim Forsyth in San Antonio; Editing by Marguerita Choy, Alan Crosby and Bernard Orr)