Heavy rains hit Texas, Kansas hard
HOUSTON - At least two people are dead and five others are missing after this week's torrential rains in Texas and Kansas, officials said Saturday, noting that though the threat of severe weather had lessened in Texas over the long holiday weekend, the focus is now on swollen rivers and waterways that are slowly rising and could flood homes.
HOUSTON - At least two people are dead and five others are missing after this week's torrential rains in Texas and Kansas, officials said Saturday, noting that though the threat of severe weather had lessened in Texas over the long holiday weekend, the focus is now on swollen rivers and waterways that are slowly rising and could flood homes.
Other parts of the U.S. were drenched Friday as well as Saturday, when a tropical depression in the Atlantic Ocean brought rain and wind to the coast of South Carolina.
In central Kansas, divers were racing against daylight Saturday in their search for the body of an 11-year-old Wichita boy who was swept away by a swiftly moving creek.
Wichita Fire Department battalion chief Scott Brown says his department has 12 divers, three search-and-rescue dogs and an airplane searching for any sign of the boy, who fell into Gypsum Creek about 7:30 p.m. Friday as he was crossing a footbridge. Rescue crews searched for three hours before receding water levels made it unsafe to have boats on the creek.
In Washington County, Texas, located between Austin and Houston, two people have died and two are missing after more than 161/2 inches of rain fell in some places on Thursday and Friday. The torrential rainfall swelled rivers and other waterways, washing away mobile homes and flooding other structures. Authorities performed more than 50 water rescues.
In Travis County, which saw up to 9 inches of rain this week, officials are searching for two missing people whose vehicle was swept off a flooded roadway.