The sports teams had outdated stadiums, and they had threatened to leave Houston.
The Houston
Oilers did so after several threats, so the city built Enron
Field, now Minute
Maid Park for the baseball team. Reliant
Stadium was erected for the Houston
Texans. Tropical
Storm Allison devastated many neighborhoods with flooding in June 2001. At least 17 people were killed around the Houston area when the rainfall from Allison that fell on June 8th and 9th caused the city's
bayous to rise over their banks. In October 2001 Enron, a Houston-based energy company, got caught in accounting scandals,
ultimately leading to collapse of the company and its accounting firm Arthur
Andersen, and the arrest and imprisonment of several executives. In
2002, the University
of Houston celebrated its 75th anniversary with an enrollment of 34,443
that fall semester. At the same time, the University
of Houston System celebrated its 25th anniversary with a total enrollment of
over 54,000. The new international Terminal E at George
Bush Intercontinental Airport opened with 30 gates in 2003. The Toyota
Center, the stadium for the basketball and hockey teams, opened in
fall 2003. METRO put in light rail service on January
1, 2004. Voters have decided by a close margin (52% Yes to 48% No)
that METRO's light rail shall be expanded. In the aftermath of the Hurricane
Katrina disaster, about 35,000 New
Orleans residents resettled in Houston.
Six
Flags Astroworld, Houston's
only large theme-park, closed in 2005.
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