Storms, Floods Continue for Fifth Day in Texas

DALLAS – Overflowing creeks and rivers across north and central Texas (search) drove hundreds from their homes as rain fell for a fifth day Thursday.

Some of the worst flooding hit west of Fort Worth (search), where rainfall totals topped 10 inches for the period.

People living near lakes were moving furniture out of their homes and filling sandbags. High water covered every road into Springtown, and about 200 residents of nearby Reno were told to evacuate their homes.

Shawn Murasky voluntarily left his mobile home along Murl's Lake near Weatherford, evacuated by a school bus Wednesday afternoon.

"I'd rather be safe than sorry," said Murasky, 26. "The water out there was flowing fast across my drive, so I wasn't unhappy to leave."

At least nine motorists were rescued from floodwaters in Aledo, fire officials said, and one child was rescued after being washed away in deceptively powerful floodwaters in Arlington, which got 2 inches of rain in the 24 hours ending Thursday morning.

Much of north Texas remained under flood warnings through the morning, before rain was expected to taper off.

The flooding followed severe weather last week that left 500,000 north Texas homes and businesses without power.

Heavy rain also hit central Texas. Austin had 2.5 inches in the 24 hours ending Thursday morning, and San Antonio 2.1 inches. San Antonio police said a woman and several were injured Wednesday when water buildup caused a roof collapse at a strip mall.

Elsewhere:

— Nearly 9 inches of rain fell in nine hours Wednesday in the southern Wisconsin town of Randolph, flooding 75 to 100 homes, mostly basements, police said. "Everything is just overloaded," Police Chief Michael Klavekoske said Thursday.

— In Minnesota, a storm system dumped up to 9 inches of rain in the southern part of the state Wednesday, leaving residents to struggle with mudslides, flooded highways and soaked basements. A mudslide closed a highway in the south-central part of the state.

— In central Oklahoma, small, short-lived tornadoes spun up unexpectedly Wednesday, damaging buildings, toppling trees and knocking down power lines. There were no reports of injuries.

— Southern Michigan was hit by brief but intense thunderstorms Wednesday afternoon. Some 83,000 homes and businesses lost power.

— High wind accompanying thunderstorms in northern New York on tore the roof off a building Wednesday in Gouverneur and blew an empty tractor-trailer off a road near Keeseville.