3 dead, including 5-year-old boy, as Texas flooding subsides: ‘We’re out of the woods now’

After days of severe flooding throughout southern Harris County, Texas, Judge Lina Hidalgo said Harris County is “now out of the woods.”

The easing of flooding comes after three people, two adults and a child, died in Texas as a result of the storm, Texas Governor Greg Abbott confirmed in a news conference on Monday.

Abbott said a total of 91 Texas counties were affected by the storm, representing more than a third of all Texas counties.

Although most of the storm has subsided, Abbott warned residents that river levels will rise in the coming days.

A 5-year-old boy was found dead in Johnson County, Texas, on Sunday, officials said.

Emergency management officials said they received a call at 1:53 a.m. local time on Sunday about a vehicle stuck in fast-moving water.

There were two adults in the vehicle, a man and a woman, and a 5-year-old male who were trying to exit the vehicle to get to dry ground on foot when they were swept into the floodwaters, officials said.

The two adults were rescued about 5 a.m. Sunday and taken to a local hospital, while the five-year-old was found dead in the water about 7:20 a.m., officials said.

In Conroe, Texas, a Conroe Police Department officer, Lt. James “Jimmy” Waller, from injuries sustained in a tornado that formed from the storm.

Abbott said Waller was caught in a confirmed EF-1 tornado that had winds of 100 mph, according to the National Weather Service.

The third death in Texas occurred in Bosque County. Abbott confirmed that an adult male was swept away by the rushing waters of the flood.

In Harris County, Hidalgo said Monday that Harris County authorities rescued a total of 233 people and 186 pets during the rainstorm.

Hidalgo said residents can expect to “see the light at the end of the tunnel” as there are no major threats from the rain in the future.

Hidalgo lifted the mandatory evacuation order on Monday, saying it was now OK for people to go home.

Parts of the country could experience their first scorching heat wave of the year by midweek, as temperatures are expected to rise into the high 90s and 100 degrees across much of the South.