WELCOME BACK IVAN, heading for Houston

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[url="http://weather.chron.com/auto/chron/tropical/tracking/at200409.html"]http://weather.chron.com/auto/chron/tropical/tracking/at200409.html[/url][img]http://maps.wunderground.com/data/images/at200409.gif[/img]

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[b]'Mini Storm Surge' Floods Seabrook Streets[/b]

[b][i]Galveston Bay's Overflowing Water Seeps Into Neighborhood[/i][/b]



POSTED: 1:01 pm CDT September 22, 2004
UPDATED: 1:08 pm CDT September 22, 2004


[b]SEABROOK, Texas -- [/b]Many Seabrook homeowners were surprised Wednesday when they woke up to flooded streets in their neighborhoods, despite very little rainfall, Local 2 reported.


Overflowing water at a Galveston Bay retaining wall near Toddville Road seeped into the area and flooded underneath many homes.

Local 2 meteorologist Wes Hohenstein said the reason the area has flooded is because of high tides. Hohenstein said the "mini" storm surge off the Galveston coast is 1 to 2 feet higher than normal.

"The breezy conditions residents have been experiencing in the last few days has been from the east, coming all the way through the Gulf of Mexico, basically throwing a lot of water up against our coastline much like a storm surge would do," Hohenstein said.

A coastal flood watch remains in effect until Thursday.

Hohenstein said people planning to visit the beach Wednesday and Thursday should reconsider their plans of swimming in the Gulf. During high tide, waves will reach between 4 and 8 feet tall.

"I'm shocked. It looks like we've got another Allison or Claudette. This scares me. (The area doesn't flood) this bad, not unless there is a storm, and we haven't had but a little bit of rain," resident Joan McMillan said.

High tide for the beaches is between 1 and 4 a.m., and between 5 and 10 a.m. for the bays.