Houston ISD has canceled classes for Friday, Sept. 20, according to an announcement on its website.     The district also released the following statement at 6:20 p.m. Thursday in response to its decision to maintain normal dismissal times earlier in the afternoon while flooding occurred throughout the city:

"As weather conditions continue to develop across the Houston region and we assess the status of all HISD campuses, the district is following established protocols for determining closures or delays at schools and district facilities. This process includes numerous conference calls between the interim superintendent and the National Weather Service, Houston TranStar, and other city, county, and emergency management agency officials as well as other school district superintendents.

In today’s case, the weather event unfortunately took a turn that was unforeseen by many area school districts and agencies. We followed the emergency management officials’ advice to shelter-in-place and maintain normal dismissal times due to extreme conditions. Throughout the day, we took proactive measures to keep our students and staff safe. Please know that the decision whether or not to close schools is never taken lightly and the safety of our students and staff is our absolute top priority."