Group of Livingston Parish residents back home after being stranded in Beaumont
BEAUMONT - The governor in Texas has declared a disaster in 13 counties as Tropical Storm Imelda brought torrential rain and dangerous flash flooding to the Houston area, stranding residents in their homes, drivers in their cars, and canceling hundreds of flights at local airports.
Ryan Perrault and two colleagues traveled to Texas Wednesday for work. While they expected rain, they didn't intend to get stranded.
"It got bad so fast," Perrault said. "We didn't really have a chance to do anything other than stick through it."
The Albany resident woke up well before sunrise to pouring rain.
"We went to go step out of bed and we stepped into about three inches of water," Perrault said.
From that point, the water only continued to rise inside and outside of the hotel.
Tonight at 10 on @WBRZ : A group of Livingston Parish men stranded in Beaumont after widespread flooding. Hear from one of them and family members worried back home pic.twitter.com/NY2eRuuuY4
— Johnston vonSpringer (@johnstonvon) September 20, 2019Trending News
"There was about two and a half foot inside the hotel," Perrault said. "I would say in the parking lot it was chest high, neck high, it was at rooftops of cars."
Used to flooding back here at home, Perrault and his coworkers leaped into action.
"We immediately started picking our stuff up," Perrault said. "Then we walked out and started knocking on people's doors and let them know we're taking on water."
While that was happening, Perrault's fiancé, Nevada Wade, woke up to several messages.
"For my phone to be going off that early was a little concerning," Wade said. "He was sending me pictures telling me the rooms are starting to flood."
As of Thursday night, Perrault said water was starting to recede. The three men safely returned home to Louisiana on Friday.