Powerful Storms Kill 16 in Texas and Oklahoma

26 May, 2015

Torrential rains have killed at least 16 people in Texas and Oklahoma, including four in Houston where floods turned streets into rivers and led to about 1,000 calls for help in the fourth-most populous U.S. city, officials said on Tuesday.

The death toll is set to rise with numerous people still missing in Texas after the storms slammed the states during the Memorial Day weekend, causing record floods that destroyed hundreds of homes, swept away bridges, and even unearthed a coffin from a Houston cemetery. It washed ashore on the banks of a bayou.

“A lot of folks drove their car into high water and had to abandon those vehicles,” Mayor Annise Parker said at a news conference.

Two of the dead in Houston were found in their cars and another two were found in a bayou. One was likely to be a male victim lost when an evacuation boat capsized during a water rescue by emergency crews in the morning.

The Oklahoma Medical Examiner’s office said six people have died in weather-related incidents over the holiday weekend in the state.

Though Parker said parts of the city were unscathed, more than 1,000 vehicles were submerged in the Houston floods and people took instead to bicycles, kayaks and surfboards to navigate water-covered streets.

The Houston Fire Department brought about 500 people to safety in boats, local media reports said.

Reuters 

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