Driving rain that soaked Austin, Texas, and gave rise to flash flood warnings on Sunday also left the corridors of power inside the State Capitol looking like a tributary of the Colorado River. Greg Abbott of Texas declared an “all hands on deck” response to flooding in the Capitol’s underground extension. Video of the flooding posted on Twitter appears to show water pouring in through a skylight and coursing into a hallway already covered in ankle-high water. The Capitol is better known as the site of explosive politics, including a headline-grabbing filibuster in 2013 against abortion restrictions and a vote this month to arrest legislators who fled the state in an effort to block the passage of a restrictive election measure. But the state has also been the setting for weather emergencies, like the deadly winter storm in February that left residents without power or running water as temperatures plunged.

Source: International New York Times August 16, 2021 00:42 UTC