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[h=4]Authorities search for eight in Texas after torrential storms[/h]Authorities are searching for eight people in Central Texas on Monday after the region was ravaged by torrential storms and flooding. The Hays County cities of San Marcos and Wimberley suffered extensive
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The National Weather Service confirmed that an EF-1 tornado touched down in Houston on Sunday. The tornado produced 100 mph winds that tore apart the roof of a local apartment building. KHOU
Jeremy Steele, left, Ric Jaime, center, and Keith McNabb salvage belongings at their friend Mike Cook's house near Wimberley, Texas, Sunday, May 24, 2015. About 350 homes in the town of Wimberley were washed away by flash floods along the Blanco River, which rose 26 feet in just one hour and left piles of wreckage 20 feet high, Texas authorities said.(Photo: Jay Janner, AP)
Authorities are searching for eight people in Central Texas on Monday after the region was ravaged by torrential storms and flooding.
The Hays County cities of San Marcos and Wimberley suffered extensive damage following Saturday's torrential rain that destroyed more than 350 homes and displaced 2,000 residents, leaving at least eight missing, according to KVUE-TV and KXAN-TV.
A line of storms stretching from the Gulf of Mexico to the Great Lakes dumped record rainfall on parts of the Plains and Midwest, spawning tornadoes and causing major flooding that forced at least 2,000 Texans from their homes.
Three deaths were blamed on the storms Saturday and Sunday, including two in Oklahoma and one in Texas, where a man's body was recovered from a flooded area along the Blanco River, which rose 26 feet in an hour and created huge piles of debris. More rain is in the forecast for Texas, Oklahoma Arkansas and Louisiana on Monday.
In Central Texas, the hardest hit communities were Wimberley and San Marcos, which are along the Blanco River in the increasingly popular corridor between Austin and San Antonio.
"It looks pretty bad out there," Hays County emergency management coordinator Kharley Smith said of Wimberley. "We do have whole streets with maybe one or two houses left on them and the rest are just slabs."
Joe McComb, of Corpus Christi, told KIII-TV that his son, Jonathan, was seriously hurt when a home his family was staying in was swept away by extreme flooding near Wimberley. McComb's two grandchildren and daughter-in-law are still missing. Four adults and a 4-year-old boy from another family are also missing near Wimberley, KXAN-TV reported.
They were identified as Ralph Carey, his wife, Sue, Randy and Michelle Charba, along with their son, Will. Michelle Charba is Ralph and Sue Carey's adult daughter.
"Right now it's still a state of shock," McComb told KIII-TV. "We're a family of faith. It's in the lord's hands. We believe in miracles, but we also believe in reality. We are praying for the best. We hope Jonathan has a quick and painless recovery, and we hope they find Laura and the children and the many others that I'm sure are going through the same thing as a result of this flood."
McComb received the news as he and his wife were in Maui, Hawaii celebrating their 44th wedding anniversary. They are now trying to catch a flight back to Texas to be with their son, who is currently at a hospital in San Antonio recovering from a broken sternum, broken rib and a collapsed lung.
McComb said his son's family was staying at a river house with other couples in the Wimberley area when a wall of water took the home off its foundation.
The Carey family's church in Corpus Christi held a prayer service on Sunday.
"Gracious God, we lift up our friends to you in their time of need," the church wrote in a message on its Facebook page. "We pray for you to wrap in your loving arms Ralph, Sue, Michelle, Randy, Will, Laura, Jonathan, Andrew and Leighton and all others effected by the flooding. We pray for protection, safety, healing and that they be found safely."
Gov. Greg Abbott was expected to tour the damage in Wimberley on Monday. Five San Marcos police cars were washed away and the fire house was flooded. The city imposed a 9 p.m. curfew on Sunday.
People look at one of several destroyed cabins on the banks of the Blanco River in Wimberley, Texas, Sunday May 24, 2015. Flooding in Texas and Oklahoma has led to numerous evacuations.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>(Photo: Jay Janner, AP)
Rivers swelled so quickly that whole communities awoke Sunday surrounded by water. The Blanco crested above 40 feet — more than triple its flood stage of 13 feet — swamping Interstate 35 and forcing parts of the busy north-south highway to close. Rescuers used pontoon boats and a helicopter to pull people out.
After a surge of mud and water flooded their cottage in Wimberley, John and Valerie Nelson fled through waist-deep waters in darkness early Sunday with transformers sparking and trees crashing around them. The single-story house, which had been Valerie Nelson's grandmother's, had been carefully rebuilt on stilts so that it would be able to withstand even the worst flooding.
"I'm absolutely dumbfounded," said Valerie Nelson, who has owned the property for about 50 years. "I didn't think the water would ever get that high."
About 1,000 residents were evacuated from roughly 400 homes near an earthen dam at Lake Lewis, about 50 miles north of Houston. Montgomery County emergency management officials fear the dam could fail due to the flooding. Agency spokeswoman Miranda Hahs said it wasn't clear when residents would be allowed to return home.
A tornado briefly touched down Sunday in Houston, damaging rooftops, toppling trees, blowing out windows and sending at least two people to the hospital. Fire officials said 10 apartments were heavily damaged and 40 others sustained lesser damage.
Dallas faced severe flooding from the Trinity River, which was expected to crest near 40 feet Monday and lap at the foundations of an industrial park. The Red and Wichita rivers also rose far above flood stage.
In Colorado, a mandatory evacuation notice was issued Sunday for residents in the northeastern city of Sterling, and several counties planned to ask the governor for a disaster declaration. Meanwhile, tornado warnings and watches were issued Sunday night for parts of several states, including Kansas, Missouri, Iowa and Illinois.
In northeast Oklahoma late Saturday, Claremore fire Capt. Jason Farley was helping rescue people from flooding when he was swept into a drainage ditch. His body was recovered an hour and a half later, his chief said. Meanwhile, a state emergency management official said a 33-year-old woman died in a weather-related traffic crash on Saturday.
This May is already the wettest on record for several Plains cities, with days still to go and more rain on the way. Oklahoma City set a new monthly rainfall total this weekend — 18.2 inches through Saturday, destroying the previous record of 14.5 in 2013. So far this year, Oklahoma City has gotten 27.37 inches of rain. It got only 4.29 inches all of last year.
Forrest Mitchell, a meteorologist at the weather service's office in Norman, Oklahoma, said it looks like the recent rainfall may officially end the drought that has gripped the region for years, noting that many lakes and reservoirs are full.
Contributing: Associated Press, WFAA-TV
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