Kingwood residents rescued from flood

KINGWOOD (FOX 26) - Amy Scanlon was brought to tears waiting at the waters edge for her family to be rescued by Houston firefighters from the flooded Forest Cove neighborhood in Kingwood on Wednesday. 

"Right now I'm overwhelmed. I've tried to hold it together and I just can't you know, everybody's losing their homes," she said.

The reunion with her loved ones provided only temporary relief.  Nathan Gibson's father -- like more than 60 other residents -- have decided to stay in their homes. Many are living on the second or third levels because water has filled the ground floor. 

"I wish my dad would just leave.  He's watching his truck and all the stuff," said Gibson.

HFD rescued about 30 residents by boat here today. Jason Cortez grabbed whatever belongings he could fit in a single suitcase and says there's no way he was going to stay. 

"There's no point you know. There's no point sitting there, I mean you're stuck," said Cortez.

Haley Shirley's family used to their own canoe to get to higher ground. It was packed with supplies, and most importantly, their cat. 

"It's kind of exciting. I've never done this before, it's cool walking in the water.  'Exciting, look at all this water it's dangerous,' I know it's a little dangerous but it's fine," said Shirley.

The San Jacinto River and the floodwaters all around it could continue to rise through Saturday because of water being released from Lake Conroe, Spring Creek, Cypress creek and others. Houston City Councilmember Dave Martin says the water rose 4-feet just today. 

"We still haven't seen the worst of it. It takes a while to run from those areas down the river to where we are so this water level by tomorrow will be a little bit higher.  Hopefully it won't go into any more houses," said Martin.

The people who had to be rescued were taken by Metro busses to several shelters.