Near the 610-59 split, Rajiv Singh described the early morning distress call he received from his wife Sunita.
“She said she’s in trouble,” Singh said. “They drove into water and water is everywhere. And apparently she thought she was being rescued because she saw some lights and maybe they were from a wrecker or something.”
An hour went by but Singh heard nothing. He tried to call her back but she never answered the phone.
He had no idea at the time that two vehicles had become stranded in rising water in the underpass.
Authorities confirmed both drivers drowned in their cars, and that at least two others were found dead in their vehicles during the extreme flooding across the Houston area Monday. A fifth victim died in Waller County.
Friends and family members said Sunita, a mechanical engineer who was on her way to work, was one of them.
“She looks forward to every Monday,” Singh said. “Every day she goes to work. By 6:30, she wants to be at her job.”
The accident came several months after city leaders pledged to install railroad crossing arms at some low-lying underpasses in a move designed to prevent these kinds of tragedies. But there were no crossing arms where Sunita and the other driver died.
“You’re letting people drive into high waters,” said Singh. “That’s ridiculous. That’s very painful.”
He said the pain was compounded because the accident occurred in Houston, a world away from the couple’s homeland of India.
“Cancer, heart problem, all that I understand. But this, driving into high water in the middle of the city, and there’s nothing that can be done. It’s a terrible loss for me, for everybody.”