Two people were killed in flash flooding and severe storms in Texas and Oklahoma that forced evacuations and rooftop rescues and left thousands without power, officials said on Sunday.
The National Weather Service reported river flooding across southern Oklahoma and central Texas, where 6 to 9 inches of rain fell overnight. Flash flooding remained a threat on Sunday from central Iowa into southern Texas, where the heaviest rainfall was expected, the NWS said.
Tornado watches were in effect in the Midwest and south on Sunday evening, including Kansas, Colorado, Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Arkansas and Louisiana, the NWS said.
As much as 3 inches of rain could fall in east central Texas on Monday, and possibly more in certain areas, the NWS said.
They haven’t seen flooding like this for probably a good decade, probably more like 25 years, even longer, on some of these rivers, said Kurt Van Speybroeck, a NWS meteorologist in Fort Worth, Texas.
He said soil was saturated from heavy rainfall over the past three weeks.
Helicopters rescued people off rooftops in Hays County in central Texas.
More than 1,000 people were rescued or evacuated from 400 homes, county officials reported on Sunday.
The county, which includes the small cities of Wimberley and San Marcos, about an hour’s drive north of San Antonio, ordered a Sunday night curfew.
Local officials at an afternoon news conference said debris piles were nearly 20 feet high. An unidentified man was found dead from the flooding in San Marcos.
Three people who had been reported missing in San Marcos were found safe, a representative for emergency management operations said.
In San Antonio, electric utility CPS Energy said it would take up to 48 hours for power to be restored to 2,600 customers.
In Oklahoma, which also had weekend flooding, a firefighter died overnight in Claremore, about 30 miles northeast of Tulsa.
Captain Jason Farley, a 20-year veteran of the department, had been responding to a call to help about 10 people trapped in their homes by floodwater, said Claremore Fire Chief Sean Douglas. Farley was swept into a storm drain and died.
Another firefighter who rushed to his aid was also swept into a drain but survived with minor injuries, he said.
It is a tragic event and a devastating loss for us, Douglas said.
Dozens of streets were closed, and the Red Cross had opened shelters.
(Additional reporting and writing by Letitia Stein in Tampa, Fla. and Mary Wisniewski in Chicago; Editing by Greg Mahlich, Richard Chang and Peter Cooney)