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As if fertilized by the water, strange stories seemed to spring up overnight. In Liberty a farmer was forced to conduct a submarine cattle drive through snake-infested floodwaters in order to get his herd onto higher ground. In Kingwood a man chased from his house by rising water returned by boat the next day in the hope of finding his missing dog; not far away, the dog -- very much alive -- was bobbing like an apple in 18 ft. of water.
Offical response was swift. Governor Ann Richards designated 33 counties disaster areas, clearing the way for federal assistance. Richards, in the midst of a tough re-election campaign, toured extensively throughout flooded areas in a Texas National Guard helicopter on Tuesday, then held a news conference in the Houston airport. Her opponent, George W. Bush, toured a flooded Houston subdivision in a boat piloted by a Republican county commissioner and helped evacuate a stranded teenager from her home.
By week's end additional flooding was expected southwest of Houston as floodwaters of the Brazos River made their way to the Gulf of Mexico. But by Friday, some residents in many other parts of the region were at least able to return home and begin gauging the devastation. They wrestled sodden carpets, mattresses, couches and other waterlogged items onto their washed-out lawns and scrubbed the smears of mud and slime from their walls. The true size of the loss, however, remains hidden for now. "Until the water fully recedes," said Houston's mayor Bob Lanier, "we cannot even estimate total damage."