More than 400 people were rescued from flooded homes and roads around Houston on Saturday after a local official warned that heavy rainfall there would create a "catastrophic event."

The water rose nearly as high as power lines along the east fork of the San Jacinto River, and some houses were swamped to their roofs, the Houston Chronicle reported.

A flood watch remained in effect through 7 p.m. Sunday, with the National Weather Service saying that a new round of heavy rain could dump up to eight inches on parts of southeast Texas.

The region was slammed by fierce storms Friday following weeks of already-drenching rains that filled reservoirs and saturated the ground in Texas and parts of Louisiana, according to the Associated Press.

The Lone Star State, Oklahoma and Iowa have also been rocked by deadly tornadoes, including one that led to the dramatic, caught-on-camera rescue of a family fleeing its demolished home.

Judge Lina Hidalgo, the top elected official in Harris County, the nation's third largest, on Friday ordered residents living near the San Jacinito River southeast of Houston to evacuate, saying that they weren't facing "your average river flooding," according to the Laredo Morning Times.

"This is much worse. It's a catastrophic event," she said.

On Saturday, Hidalgo toured the county, including by helicopter, and said that anyone who didn't heed her warnings should stay put until rescuers arrived, according to local TV station KHOU 11.

"We definitely advise folks not to get into high water, because there's all kinds of materials in there," Hidalgo said.
"There were snakes, there were rats, there were spiders that we could just see with our eyes from the vehicle in the water. And you don't know what's at the bottom."