HOUSTON -- A mother and daughter died Monday when their sport utility vehicle became submerged on a southeast Houston feeder road during severe weather, KPRC Local 2 reported.
Severe weather pounded the Houston area early Monday, flooding streets, closing schools and sending bayous over their banks.
Severe Weather Watches and Warnings 
Team Coverage: Weather Takes Toll Victims From Submerged Vehicle Identified Rainwater Overpowers Drainage System Storms Cause Big Problems For Motorists
An SUV became submerged under 10 to 15 feet of water in the northbound lanes of the Interstate 45 feeder road at Tellepsen, according to authorities.
When emergency officials pulled it out after the water receded, they found the bodies of two females inside.
Police said Patricia Gutierrez, 37, and her 16-year-old daughter, Melissa Rojas, drowned trying to escape through the back of the SUV.
Officials said they believed it was dark when they approached the area, not realizing the water was so deep, and became trapped when the weight of the water kept the doors pinned shut.
A third death was also blamed on the storm. A 56-year-old man died in a traffic accident on a rural road in Fort Bend County. Officials said that the Needville man's car apparently hydroplaned on Farm Road 1462. The car veered off the road and landed upside-down in a flooded ditch.
A 54-year-old woman was killed in a wreck on FM 1459 near FM 522 in Brazoria County.
As much as 13 inches of rain were reported in the Houston-Galveston area, closing numerous roads and some public school systems.
"Look at this remarkable rain totals -- 8 inches in Pearland, 8 inches downtown, 10 (inches) in Tomball, 13 (inches) in Conroe, 11 1/2 in Atascocita, 8.40 in Dayton," KPRC Local 2 chief meteorologist Frank Billingsley said. "I think we're out of this by 8 o'clock if not a little bit sooner. Certainly we are by midnight."
Allen's Landing near downtown Houston, where Buffalo Bayou and White Oak Bayou meet, was underwater by 9 a.m.
Traffic was closed to Travis Street in downtown because of flooding from the runoff of the bayous. At least six vehicles were underwater on Travis because they could not get out in time.
Highway 288 was one of numerous roadways shut down for a while early Monday morning because high water made it impassable.
Twenty feet of water collected below the underpass of Beltway 8 at Interstate 10.
All schools in the Galveston, North Forest Anahuac Independent school districts were closed Monday because of the severe weather. Shepherd Independent School District schools will be dismissed at noon. The Cleveland school district will be dismissed at 2:30 p.m.
Classes at the University of Houston downtown campus were also canceled. The UH main campus opened at noon.
The following Houston Independent School District schools were closed.
Berry Elementary Bowie Elementary Concord Early Childhood Center Cook Elementary Fleming Middle Fonville Middle Houston Gardens Elementary Isaacs Elementary Kashmere High Kashmere Gardens Elementary Key Middle McDade Elementary Northline Elementary Peterson Elementary Wheatley Child Development Center
The Harris County Office of Emergency Management said the following bayous were near or over their banks at 6 p.m.
Lower Clear Creek, from FM 528 to Clear Lake White Oak Bayou from Jersey Village to Heights Boulevard Cypress Creek The west fork of the San Jacinto River
In Hitchcock, a tornado tore the roof off a mobile home, but none of the six people inside was hurt. Two other mobile homes sustained minor damage.
Authorities were investigating reports that high winds destroyed two mobile homes and severely damaged another structure in the town of China, a Jefferson County official said.
No injuries were reported in the storm about 65 miles northeast of Houston, said Calvin Irvin, Jefferson County emergency management spokesman. Public reports that the damaging wind was a tornado were still unconfirmed, he said.
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