Houston’s mayor on Sunday defended the decision not to evacuate the city ahead of the storm — insisting that to do so would have created an even worse “nightmare.’’

“If you think the situation right now is bad, you give an order to evacuate, you are creating a nightmare. Especially when it’s not planned,” Mayor Sylvester Turner told ABC.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott backed the mayor.

“Now is not the time to second-guess the decisions that were made,” Abbott said. “We’re at the stage where we just need to respond to the emergencies and necessities the people of Houston have.”

The officials’ comments came as everyone from hospital patients to TV anchors and prison inmates were forced to flee the ravaged southeastern part of the state.

Patients at Houston’s Ben Taub Hospital were being moved to other medical facilities when water seeped into the basement, damaging its electrical system.

KHOU-TV anchorman Len Cannon was on the air Sunday morning when he spotted water coming into the station. He and his co-workers were forced into a second-floor conference room.

With wires