Texas flooding claims one life

September 09, 2010|Associated Press

ARLINGTON, Texas — The remnants of Tropical Storm Hermine caused massive flooding in northern Texas yesterday, killing at least one person and submerging much of the city of Arlington under water.

Television footage from a Fox affiliate showed firefighters using ladders to reach residents stranded in the upper floors of their homes in a subdivision. Coffee-colored floodwaters rushed past roller-coaster tracks at a Six Flags amusement park. Bewildered residents surprised by the extent of the flooding waded through waist-deep water in the streets.

Two mobile homes and a house were swept away north of Austin, and dozens of people sought emergency shelter after state and local authorities performed numerous high-water rescues from Austin to Dallas. Remnants of the storm, downgraded to a tropical depression Tuesday night, appeared to be moving into southern Oklahoma in satellite images and were forecast to move as far north as Kansas in the coming days.

The National Weather Service issued flash flood warnings for many parts of Oklahoma, and the entire state was under a flash flood watch.

At least one person died in a vehicle submerged by water from a swollen creek in Killeen, north of Austin, the National Weather Service reported. Elsewhere, authorities were searching for an unknown number of possible victims, said Sergeant John Foster of the Williamson County Sheriff’s Department.