Heavy rains near Houston close schools and flood roadways as officials urge residents to evacuate

Mandatory evacuation orders were issued near Houston on Thursday for some residents following heavy rains in Texas that stranded motorists, flooded streets and closed schools as officials warned that conditions in some hard-hit areas could worsen.

"This is a life-threatening situation,” said Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo, the top elected official in the nation's third-largest county.

Storms over the past month in southeast Texas and parts of Louisiana have dumped more than 2 feet (61 centimeters) of rain in some areas, according to the National Weather Service. Of particular concern was an area along the San Jacinto River, which was expected to keep rising as more rain falls and officials release extra water from an already full reservoir.

Videos posted to social media showed tractor-trailers partially submerged and water flooding over roadways. More than a dozen school districts north of Houston canceled classes Friday because of the weather and shelters opened in some communities.

No injuries or death were immediately reported from the flooding. At least nine people were rescued from rising water, the Houston mayor’s office said.

Officials ordered an evacuation of people in an area along the river in northern Harris County, where Houston is located. It was unclear how many residents were under evacuation orders.

“We want you out of this area,” Hidalgo said at a news conference Thursday.

Farther north in Montgomery County, officials issued a voluntary evacuation order and said roads were closed because of flooding along the river. The area got about 5 to 8 inches (13 to 20 centimeters) of rain within 24 hours, with some spots getting as much as 10 to 12 inches (25 to 30 centimeters) of rain, said National Weather Service meteorologist Hayley Adams.

The storm brought down trees and left vehicles stranded. It prompted the San Jacinto River Authority to close Lake Conroe and increase water releases from the dam that created the reservoir.

Officials asked that residents farther south along the river leave or prepare to be stranded by rising water for two to three days, Harris said.

The San Jacinto River is normally 45 to 50 feet (13.72 to 15.24 meters) above sea level, but is expected to reach 78 feet (23.77 meters), Hidalgo said.

The county opened three shelters for displaced residents, with a fourth planned.

Dawn O’Leary, a resident of Cleveland, about 45 miles (72.42 kilometers) northeast of Houston, was caught off guard by the rising floodwaters. “I was trying to get to work,” she said, but the roads were so bad that she could not make it.

Emergency management officials said the area could see flooding similar to that caused by the remnants of Tropical Storm Imelda, which dumped more than 40 inches (102 centimeters) in some locations in 2019.

This photo provided by the Texas Department of Transportation shows a truck parked as floodwaters rise over a bridge in Grapeland, Texas on Thursday, May 2, 2024. Heavy rains have caused flooding in southeastern Texas and officials in one county asked residents to leave. (Texas Department of Transportation via AP)

Drivers disregard a Conroe Police Department road block and travel down a flooded road, Thursday, May 2, 2024, near Sapp Road in Conroe, Texas. (Kirk Sides/Houston Chronicle via AP)

Monica Pease surveys the damage of the office space inside her home, where she was working when several trees fell on it, collapsing the ceiling, during a severe storm, Thursday, May 2, 2024, in Spring, Texas. (Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle via AP)

Monica Pease surveys the damage to her home after four trees fell on it during a severe storm, Thursday, May 2, 2024, in Spring, Texas. (Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle via AP)

Monica Pease surveys the damage to her home after several trees fell on it during a severe storm, Thursday, May 2, 2024, in Spring, Texas. (Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle via AP)

Amanda Kovar and her daughter, Zoe, walk through their neighborhood in North Woodland Hills to survey the area after severe flooding, Thursday, May 2, 2024, in the Houston neighborhood of Kingwood, Texas. (Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle via AP)

A stalled car is seen in flood water near North Park Drive after severe flooding, Thursday, May 2, 2024, in the Houston neighborhood of Kingwood, Texas. (Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle via AP)

A fallen tree is shown fallen on a house during a severe storm, Thursday, May 2, 2024, in Spring, Texas. (Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle via AP)

A basketball hoop is damaged by a fallen tree during a severe storm, Thursday, May 2, 2024 in Spring, Texas. (Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle via AP)

A Houston firetruck makes it way through flood water in North Woodland Hills after severe flooding, Thursday, May 2, 2024, in the Houston neighborhood of Kingwood, Texas. (Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle via AP)

Nathan Duekero tries to unclog a storm drain during a severe storm, Thursday, May 2, 2024, in Spring, Texas. (Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle via AP)

Zoe Kovar walks through her neighborhood in North Woodland Hills to survey the area after severe flooding, Thursday, May 2, 2024, in the Houston neighborhood of Kingwood, Texas. (Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle via AP)

Traffic goes around a stalled car on Kingwood Drive after severe flooding, Thursday, May 2, 2024, in the Houston neighborhood of Kingwood, Texas. (Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle via AP)

Amanda Kovar, right, walks with her husband, Matthew, and daughter, Zoe, through their neighborhood in North Woodland Hills after severe flooding, Thursday, May 2, 2024, in the Houston neighborhood of Kingwood, Texas. (Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle via AP)

A truck drives through flood water in North Woodland Hills after severe flooding, Thursday, May 2, 2024, in the Houston neighborhood of Kingwood, Texas. (Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle via AP)

Summer Belson, left, and her brother, Steve Brown, survey damage from a fallen tree in Belson's backyard during a severe storm, Thursday, May 2, 2024, in Spring, Texas. (Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle via AP)

An SUV is stranded in a ditch in a stretch of street flooding during a severe storm, Thursday, May 2, 2024, in Spring, Texas. (Brett Coomer/Houston Chronicle via AP)

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Israel told the United Nations’ top court on Friday that a case brought by South Africa about its military operation in Gaza “makes a mockery of the heinous charge of genocide.”

The International Court of Justice is holding a third round of hearings on emergency measures requested by South Africa, which wants the court, based in The Hague in the Netherlands, to order a cease-fire in the enclave.

The allegations were “completely divorced from the facts and circumstances,” Israel’s deputy attorney general Gilad Noam told a panel of 15 international judges.

South Africa told the court on Thursday that the situation in Gaza has reached “a new and horrific stage” and urged judges to order Israel to halt its military operations. Israel must “totally and unconditionally withdraw” from the Gaza Strip, said Vusimuzi Madonsela, South Africa’s ambassador to the Netherlands.

Israel has strongly denied committing genocide in Gaza, saying it does all it can to spare civilians and is only targeting Hamas militants.

“We do not wish harm to these civilians as Hamas does,” Noam said, accusing the organization of using human shields.

South Africa has submitted four requests for the ICJ to investigate Israel. According to the latest request, the country says Israel's military incursion in Rafah threatens the “very survival of Palestinians in Gaza.”

In January, judges ordered Israel to do all it can to prevent death, destruction and any acts of genocide in Gaza, but the panel stopped short of ordering an end to the military offensive.

The court has already found that there is a “real and imminent risk” to the Palestinian people in Gaza by Israel’s military operations.

ICJ judges have broad powers to order a cease-fire and other measures, though the court doesn't have its own enforcement apparatus. A 2022 order by the court demanding that Russia halt its full-scale invasion of Ukraine has so far gone unheeded.

Most of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million people have been displaced since fighting began.

The war began with a Hamas attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7 in which Palestinian militants killed around 1,200 people and took about 250 hostages. More than 35,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war, Gaza’s Health Ministry says, without distinguishing between civilians and combatants in its count.

South Africa initiated proceedings in December 2023 and sees the legal campaign as rooted in issues central to its identity. Its governing party, the African National Congress, has long compared Israel’s policies in Gaza and the occupied West Bank to its own history under the apartheid regime of white minority rule, which restricted most Blacks to “homelands.” Apartheid ended in 1994.

Follow AP's coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war

Israel's agents Gilad Naom, left, Tamar Kaplan Tourgeman, center, and co-agent Avigail Frisch Ben Avraham, right, wait for the start of hearings at the International Court of Justice, in The Hague, Netherlands, Thursday, May 16, 2024. The U.N.'s top court opened two days of hearings in a case brought by South Africa to see whether Israel needs to take additional measures to alleviate the suffering in war-ravaged Gaza. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)

The Peace Palace office of the International Court of Justice, or World Court, is pictured through a fence in The Hague, Netherlands, Thursday, May 16, 2024. The U.N.'s top court opened two days of hearings in a case brought by South Africa to see whether Israel needs to take additional measures to alleviate the suffering in war-ravaged Gaza. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)

The Peace Palace, office of the International Court of Justice, or World Court, is pictured through a fence in The Hague, Netherlands, Thursday, May 16, 2024. The U.N.'s top court opened two days of hearings in a case brought by South Africa to see whether Israel needs to take additional measures to alleviate the suffering in war-ravaged Gaza. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)

Judges enter the International Court of Justice, in The Hague, Netherlands, Thursday, May 16, 2024. The U.N.'s top court opened two days of hearings in a case brought by South Africa to see whether Israel needs to take additional measures to alleviate the suffering in war-ravaged Gaza. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)

Front row from left, South Africa's agents Cornelius Scholtz, Vusimuzi Madonsela and Israel's agents Gilad Naom, Tamar Kaplan Tourgeman and co-agent Avigail Frisch Ben Avraham wait for the start of hearings at the International Court of Justice, in The Hague, Netherlands, Thursday, May 16, 2024. The U.N.'s top court opened two days of hearings in a case brought by South Africa to see whether Israel needs to take additional measures to alleviate the suffering in war-ravaged Gaza. (AP Photo/Peter Dejong)