DALLAS — Most of Texas was set to get its first period of extended sunshine in weeks, allowing surging rivers to recede as emergency management officials turn their attention to cleanup efforts in places such as Houston, where damage estimates top $45 million.
Weeks of rain and flooding have made Texas a place of extremes: severe drought conditions earlier in the year that have given way to unprecedented rainfall in some areas. At least 31 people have been killed in storms that began in Texas and Oklahoma over Memorial Day weekend. Twenty-seven of the deaths have been in Texas, and 11 people are still missing.
The sun forecast for the week was expected to allow engorged rivers such as the Trinity in north and east Texas, the Brazos southwest of Houston and Nueces in south Texas to flush massive volumes of water into the Gulf of Mexico.
Veronica Beyer, spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Transportation, said preliminary assessments show there’s about $27 million in damage to the state transportation system.
