Hundreds seek safety from Texas floods; severe weather kills 17

Hundreds of people fled areas near Texas rivers that overflowed their banks on Thursday as the state reeled from severe storms this week that killed at least 17 people, flooded cities and set a record for the wettest month.

The National Weather Service issued a flash flood watch stretching from south of San Antonio to Dallas, through Oklahoma, where severe weather this week killed an additional six people, and into Kansas. Thunderstorms pelted large parts of the affected region.

Teams worked overnight to rescue people affected by the floodwaters. Officials said Travis County firefighters saved 21 people from a drifting houseboat, while Johnson County emergency workers rescued 14 drivers and residents.

The city of Wharton, about 100 km southwest of Houston, issued a voluntary evacuation notice for about 300 homes along the Colorado River, where water was expected to rise through Friday.

The Brazos River flooded about 50 km west of Fort Worth and was expected to crest on Thursday evening. Hundreds left their homes on Wednesday as the waterway began breaching its banks, Parker County officials said.

State climatologist John Nielsen-Gammon said the average rainfall across the state was 19 cm in May, breaking the record of 17 cm set in June 2004, according to records that date to 1895.

"It has been ridiculous," Nielsen-Gammon said.

The body of a man was found on the banks of the Blanco River in San Marcos, authorities said on Thursday, bringing the number of fatalities to at least 17.

The body of a boy, who was thought to have been swept away in Blanco River floods that ripped houses off their foundations, was recovered on Wednesday near San Marcos.

The new storms could hinder rescue workers searching for those washed away along the river.

"We are not expecting another surge of the river, but it is going to shift debris piles," Kharley Smith, the county's emergency management coordinator, said.

(China Daily 05/30/2015 page12)