DALLAS (AP) - Hundreds of people had to be rescued Thursday from floodwaters in South Texas, where rainfall has inundated communities all week.
In the border city of Mission, Mayor Armando O’Caña said about 200 water rescues had been performed, while Texas Department of Public Safety Lt. Johnny Hernandez said authorities were sometimes using helicopters to get to people. O’Caña said people had been rescued from homes, cars, an adult day care center and local motels.
“We’re still conducting life-saving rescues as we speak,” O’Caña said Thursday afternoon.
He noted his community had been spared from rain that hit the area a day earlier.
The National Weather Service said some areas in far South Texas got more than 15 inches (38 centimeters) of rain over the last four days. Meteorologist Tim Speece says that throughout the week “different areas received the heavy rainfall.” Speece added that the rain was expected to move out of far South Texas on Friday.
Thunderstorms that have moved across Texas this week have also brought heavy rains to areas that less than a year ago were hit by flooding from Hurricane Harvey , including the Corpus Christi area and the Beaumont-Port Arthur area, east of Houston.
Gov. Greg Abbott on Thursday issued a disaster declaration for six counties hit by flooding: Cameron, Hidalgo and Willacy counties in far South Texas and Aransas, Nueces and San Patricio counties in the Corpus Christi area.
Shelters in far South Texas include three set up by the American Red Cross, which housed more than 200 people on Wednesday night, a Red Cross spokeswoman said.
McAllen - where first lady Melania Trump made an unannounced visit to a facility housing migrant children - likely got inundated with 7 to 10 inches (18 to 25 centimeters) in some areas on Thursday, emergency management coordinator Kevin Pagan said.
“Streets were flooded pretty much all over town,” he said.
Authorities conducted several dozen water rescues in McAllen of people afraid they wouldn’t be able to leave their flooded subdivisions and others trapped in their vehicles.
Some other parts of the U.S. were also experiencing heavy rains and flooding, and forecasters say much of the central and southeast U.S. are at risk of severe storms as the weekend approaches.
In Montana, creeks and rivers were funneling water from rains last weekend along the Rocky Mountain Front downstream toward the Missouri River. Water was above flood stage and still rising Thursday morning where the Smith River runs into the Missouri River about 10 miles (16 kilometers) southwest of Great Falls.
Flooding in Minnesota and South Dakota caused some road closures, including the brief shutdown of Interstate 90 in Minnesota. The Argus Leader in South Dakota reported that a woman was rescued when her pickup became stranded in floodwaters east of Sioux Falls.
In northwest Iowa, several roads were inundated and basements swamped by heavy rain and Iowa Highway 60 flooded over in the Ashton area, forcing traffic to detour.
In western Pennsylvania , residents and business owners were cleaning up after a storm dumped nearly 4 inches (10 centimeters) of rain, killing at least one person and prompting scores of evacuations as powerful floodwaters carried off cars and damaged buildings.
The national Storm Prediction Center said the central and southeast U.S. will be at most risk of strong to severe thunderstorms Friday. They include an area that encompasses parts of western Oklahoma, western Kansas and eastern Colorado. Also Friday, storms could be severe in the Deep South.
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Lozano contributed to this report from Houston.
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For the latest information on flooding in Texas and elsewhere in the U.S.: https://bit.ly/2thr96T
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