First responders rescue people from Texas floods while other hard-hit areas are cleaning up
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UVALDE, Texas (AP) -- First responders in Texas rescued people trapped in dangerously rising flood waters in the southern area of the state Friday after days of punishing downpours created floods that killed two people.
Water rescues were ongoing in several areas west of San Antonio including Sutton, Crockett and Zavala counties, authorities said. Floodwaters spilled over Interstate 10 in a rural area near Ozona, and a section of a bridge over the Nueces River in Uvalde County collapsed, officials said.
Emergency personnel aboard boats and helicopters have saved more than 200 people including stranded drivers and people trapped in homes since storms began Tuesday, Gov. Gregg Abbott said.
The National Weather Service issued a flash flood emergency in the early morning for the city of Sonora in Sutton County, about 170 miles (274 kilometers) northwest of San Antonio.
The local sheriff's office used a boat to rescue one person and local officials were urging residents in low-lying areas along the Dry Devils River to evacuate as heavy rain fell, although the request was not mandatory, said Chief Deputy Jon Gann.
"The water's up to the top of the banks," Gann said. "If we get any more, we're going to be into homes."
Officials in nearby Crockett County said there were multiple boat rescues underway near Ozona, about 200 miles (320 kilometers) northwest of San Antonio and many roads were flooded and impassable.
About 180 miles (290 kilometers) to the south in Zavala County near the Mexico border, emergency responders were rescuing people from floodwaters and asking residents to stay away from the area, officials said. The Texas Department of Transportation said high waters closed a 50-mile stretch of U.S. Highway 57 from La Pryor to its junction with Interstate 35 southwest of San Antonio, and parts of the highway were not expected to reopen until Monday.
Flash flood warnings were issued Friday for several counties including many areas still reeling from devastating floods a year ago. Flood warnings also were in place through the weekend in many locations downstream from hard-hit areas, where rain was tapering off Friday. Some rivers were expected to reach historic levels.
Some areas have seen 2 feet (60 centimeters) or more of rain this week.
The storms and flooding threatened multiple counties close to the Mexico border and in the Hill Country. Roughly 6 million residents across Texas were under a flood watch this week.
One person who died was driving on a flooded road and was swept away near Uvalde, authorities said. Another victim, 65-year-old John Mark Steward of Kerrville, died after his mobile home was swept into Goat Creek on the Guadalupe River, his wife said. The Guadalupe is the same river wrecked by flash floods last year when two dozen children and counselors died at Camp Mystic.
The slow-moving severe weather system was expected to meander in a northwesterly direction on Friday and make its way toward the Texas Big Bend in the western part of the state, the weather service said.