Crew members swim to safety after Texas freight train derails, partially sinks

Two crew members were able to swim to safety after jumping from the train, according to a CBS News report. Homes were either damaged or swept away by river water southwest of Austin, about 1,500 homes in the Houston area alone sustained flood damage, and neighborhoods throughout the state were cut off by rising waters.

“City crews are monitoring these locations and other low points in the city to ensure barricades are in place when needed”, Dallas officials said in a written statement.

Western and northern regions of the state were drenched in the last 24 hours with between 5 inches (13 cm) and 6 inches (15 cm) of rain, authorities in Texas said in a statement on Saturday morning. Much of the eastern half of the state, along with parts of southern Oklahoma and southwestern Louisiana, were under flash-flood warnings and watches through the weekend.

The landfall point was about 60 miles (96 km) northwest of Manzanillo, where tropical storm-force winds likely occurred.

A larger vehicle drives by a smaller vehicle through high water causing the smaller vehicle to stall out on Hillcrest road during a heavy rain fall Friday, October 23, 2015, in Dallas.

That admonition is heard so often when roads flood that it rings in the ears of many American motorists.

The city of Powell, in Navarro County, received as much as 20 inches of rain from Wednesday through Saturday, according to the Weather Prediction Center.

“When we got here today, and we were trying to check in they said it’s been canceled”, said Curt and Daria Fowler, who have planned for six months to fly across the pond to see their son in England. Also Boerne, Hondo, Castroville, Comfort and Wimberley, the latter was heavily effected by heavy rains over the Memorial Day weekend. Finally, counties over Deep East Texas including Houston, Polk, Trinity, Tyler, Jasper, and Newton will be under Flash Flood Watches until 7 a.m. Monday.

Little rain has fallen since then.

One locomotive and several rail cars loaded with gravel went into the water and were partly submerged, DeGraff said. The National Weather Service says water levels could reach almost 5 feet above normal astronomical tides, and officials are concerned that the high storm tides and heavy rainfall could result in access to the peninsula being cut off.