Officials say at least one person has died in Texas and three are missing after heavy rains brought flooding.
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John Brieden, a judge in Washington County, Texas, where more than 16.5 inches of rain fell on Thursday said that one person has been found dead in a mobile home that was swamped by floodwaters and a second person was found in a vehicle that had gone off a road and into a submerged ditch.
A 21-year-old man was reported missing after his pickup truck was found near a highway, Brenham Fire Chief Ricky Boeker said on Friday afternoon.
Storms moved through southeast Texas, north of Houston Thursday night, uprooting trees, flooding roads and damaging homes.
Five people were rescued from the roof of a home by helicopter and two more are missing after torrential rain caused floods that closed roads and prompted evacuations in the Austin area.
The forecasts through the holiday weekend called for scattered or isolated thunderstorms in Central and Southeast Texas.
The National Weather Service said Friday that an EF-1 tornado struck Bryan, located about 100 miles northwest of Houston, a day earlier. County Judge Paul Pape was expected to declare a disaster to tap emergency funds, she said.
At least two people were reported missing in Travis County after getting trapped in a vehicle in high waters, according to Angel Flores, spokesman for the Austin Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.
Near Austin in Travis County, which saw up to 9in of rain this week, officials were searching for two missing people whose vehicle was swept off a flooded roadway, according to emergency services spokeswoman Lisa Block. More than 50 water rescues had taken place since the rains began on Thursday morning.
Authorities say rising water from heavy rains has trapped 19 people in a Kentucky cave.
The Office of Emergency Management in Bastrop County, east of Austin, urged residents to stay off the roads, saying some are covered with several feet of water.
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Fire crews in southeast Travis County said two people in a vehicle were swept away around 1:15 a.m. Friday by surging floodwaters.
