Flooding in Texas Kills at Least Four

The Associated Press reports heavy rainfall flooded some Texas towns and stranded people on rooftops, killing at least four.

A few people were reported missing when the waters receded. A confirmed death toll could not immediately be obtained from authorities. 450 residents stayed at temporary shelters and some made arrangements with other relatives and friends as the day passed. Three helicopters and National Guard units helped rescue people and their pets stranded on their rooftops

A four-year-old girl drowned as she was swept from her mother's arms in Haltom city, a subdivision of Fort worth. The family tried to escape when a boat passed by but the boat capsized. The mother of the four-year-old, Natasha Collins, said the current swept the four-year old child out of her arms. Alexandria's body was discovered two hours later. A Haltom city resident commented on CBS news, "Water was up to the bottom of the window and the current was so fast houses were washing away. You could hear people screaming but we couldn't get out to help." As many as 100 homes in Haltom were damaged by waters and ripped off their foundations.

In Gainesville, a town sixty miles north of Dallas, a five-year-old girl and her grandmother were killed after the waters lifted their mobile home off its foundation sweeping them into the current. According to the Dallas Morning News, the mother was holding the two girls and lost grip of the five year-old. The search continues for the girl's missing two year-old sister. At least five others are reported missing that included the two-year- old.

In Sherman, located sixty miles north of Dallas, a woman in a sports vehicle was killed when it stalled in rising waters and swept her away. Dump trucks were the only vehicles that could rescue around one hundred residents from a Sherman nursing home and people in apartments were forced to evacuate the second story of an apartment building. The flooding forced the closing of Interstate 35 running from Gainesville to the Oklahoma state line due to heavy rainfall. There were also concerns of excess water pouring from creeks and rivers.

The National Weather Service reported nine inches of rain fell in Gainseville by Monday morning and fell at an average of an inch every fifteen minutes in some areas. Meteorologist Gary Woodall said on CBS, "We get heavy rains heavy rains, but the rate, the amount, the duration and the covering of this are just amazing." Weather forecasts predicted scattered thunderstorms on Monday and Tuesday.

CBS News, "Four Dead in North Texas Flooding"
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/06/18/ap/national/main2946399.shtml

Angela K. Brown, "Heavy Rains Swamps North Texas, Killing at least Four"
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/APStories/stories/D8PRIRN81.html

Jessica Rinaldi, "Update: Two Flash-Floods Kill At Least Four in North Texas"
http://www.reuters.com/article/bondsNews/idUSN1840531320070619