Texas flood

Texas floods: More rain on the way as 13 people remain missing

By Greg Botelho and Holly Yan

After days of deadly torrential rains and flooding, some Texas residents got hit by another round Wednesday, including a fresh barrage of intense precipitation in Houston and a new threat to a dam outside Dallas.

The endangered dam is in Midlothian, a city 25 miles southwest of Dallas. The Padera Dam there was holding Wednesday morning with water topping it, and Midlothian police said federal officials had warned of "an impending ... failure."

The dam, which was undergoing rehabilitation when the recent rains started, is holding back about 2,900 acre/feet of water (945 million gallons).

While thunderstorms are possible, they and accompanying heavy rains are more likely in Houston. That would be a big, dangerous headache for the country's fourth-largest city and the surrounding area, parts of which saw more than 11 inches of rain Monday and Tuesday.

The problem with more intense precipitation is twofold. When rain falls at a rate of an inch or so an hour, water pools in low-lying areas like underpasses and decreases visibility to next to nothing, making it hard to go anywhere or see dangers ahead. And when it comes on top of weeks of heavy rain, it swells ponds, rivers and bayous -- defining features in Houston -- and they can spill over into neighborhoods.

Many parts of Texas and neighboring Oklahoma have been getting heavy rain and river flooding for weeks, with the Memorial Day weekend especially perilous.

Water levels in lakes, rivers and streams generally were receding Wednesday, though more rain could reverse that trend. There's a chance of storms for at least the next six days in Houston. Areas farther north, including Dallas, are expected to get 2 to 4 inches between Wednesday and Sunday. And parts of eastern Oklahoma will get drenched with 4 to 6 inches of rain.

For Houston residents, heavy rain farther north could be as dangerous as whatever falls in the city.

"You think conditions are improving, but if it's raining hundreds of miles to the north, it could cause problems," meteorologist Pedram Javaheri said.

The wet weather has been deadly.

The bodies of 31 people who perished because of the recent storm system have been found, 13 of them in northern Mexico and the rest in Texas and Oklahoma.

Another 13 people remain missing, including 11 in Hays County, southwest of Austin.

Laura McComb called her sister, Julie Shields, a little after 1 a.m. to tell her that "the ceiling has caved in, and the house is floating down the river."

" 'Tell Mom and Dad that I love them. I love you, and pray,' " McComb said.

Laura's husband, Jonathan McComb, was eventually found alive, with a collapsed lung and broken sternum. But his wife and children remain missing.

"We never lose hope," said Jonathan's father, Joe McComb. "But I think reality is setting in that there is probably a good chance that it might not be the outcome we're hoping for. But you never give up hope."

Three people are confirmed dead in Hays County, with four Texas counties -- Medina, Milam, Travis and Williamson -- reporting one death each.

Oklahoma had six deaths tied to the same storm system, including a firefighter in Claremore who was trying to perform a water rescue.

Houston authorities have reported at least five deaths after rains turned normally bustling highways into rivers and made abandoned cars look like toys in a bathtub. The rains and flooding severely damaged more than 4,000 properties, Mayor Annise Parker said.

"We've seen flooding before, but not nearly to this extreme," said Gage Mueller, who's lived in Houston for 40 years. "It rains and it rains and it rains, and there's really nowhere for the water to go. ... It's ridiculous."

An elderly couple is missing after the rescue boat they were on capsized during an attempt to save them in swift water.

The need for rescues was so great that Houston public works trucks were converted into temporary ambulances, responding to 911 calls and pulling out residents who couldn't escape their homes.

With any luck, more of the missing will be rescued.

"We have cars littered all over the city," Parker said, "and as the floodwaters go down, that's one of the things we're doing to make sure -- that no one was trapped in those vehicles."