Severe storms drench Plains

Heavy rain, flooding reported

Carol Cole sits Sunday in front of her home in Broken Arrow, Okla. A strong storm hit the area Saturday night and early Sunday, destroying the home. According to the National Weather Service, tornadoes touched down Sunday near Elmer and Tipton in southwest Oklahoma.
Carol Cole sits Sunday in front of her home in Broken Arrow, Okla. A strong storm hit the area Saturday night and early Sunday, destroying the home. According to the National Weather Service, tornadoes touched down Sunday near Elmer and Tipton in southwest Oklahoma.

OKLAHOMA CITY -- A powerful storm system stretched from Texas to Minnesota on Sunday, producing heavy rains, flash flooding and the possibility of more severe weather.

Scattered severe storms were possible Sunday evening in eastern Minnesota, western Wisconsin and northern Illinois, according to the National Weather Service.

Rain-soaked Texas saw flash-flood warnings, high-water rescues and motorists stranded on roads overwhelmed by torrential rains. A river in northwest Oklahoma threatened to top its banks and affected crops, oil wells and rural roads, while 2 to 3 inches of rain fell in three hours in parts of Arkansas, prompting a flash-flood warning.

"We've gotten a lot of rain in a short time," Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management spokesman Keli Cain said. "The ground is saturated, so every time we get another big soaking, the rain causes more flash flooding."

The storm system is the result of a cold front extending from the north central Plains into the southern Plains that pushed up behind warm, moist air, according to Bill Bunting, chief of operations for the National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla.

"It's a very strong upper-level disturbance," Bunting said, noting it stretched at one point nearly to the U.S. border with Mexico.

The Dallas-Fort Worth area received between 3 to 5 inches of rain overnight, according to weather service senior meteorologist Eric Martello. In Johnson County, which WFAA-TV reported received 5 to 8 inches of rain overnight, people had to be rescued from their homes. San Antonio and Austin also saw flooding Sunday.

Damaging tornadoes and strong winds blew through the Plains on Saturday and early Sunday, though there were no reports of deaths or injuries.

The weather service said tornadoes touched down near Elmer and Tipton in southwest Oklahoma on Sunday, with state emergency officials say the most significant damage was to homes, businesses and power lines.

In Missouri, about 35 homes took on water after the Fishing River overran its banks in Mosby, a town of about 190 residents located about 20 miles northeast of Kansas City, Clay County sheriff's office Lt. Will Akin said. Voluntary evacuations began around 7 a.m. Sunday, with half to two-thirds of the residents choosing to leave.

Water was up to waist-high in some homes. No one was hurt, Akin said.

The floodwaters crested around 11 a.m. Sunday and quickly began receding, allowing roads to begin reopening.

A tornado touched down Saturday near the town of Sibley, which is about 20 miles east of Kansas City, Mo. A weather xervice crew went to the area Sunday to evaluate damage that includes a destroyed camper, Murray said.

She said a crew also was trying to determine whether a tornado was responsible for toppled trees Saturday near Clinton, about 65 miles southeast of Kansas City.

In the southeast Missouri town of Hayti, there was a weather service report that one person died Friday afternoon when a tree was struck by lightning and fell onto a vehicle. The Hayti Police Department didn't immediately return a phone call Sunday seeking more information.

In Louisiana, authorities said a 110-mph tornado in Tickfaw injured three people and damaged eight houses.

The weather service said the twister hit about 3:30 a.m. Sunday in Tickfaw, which is about 50 miles northwest of New Orleans.

Tangipaha Parish sheriff's spokesman Dawn Panepinto told The Times-Picayune that one person was taken to North Oaks Hospital and the other two had very minor injuries.

Red Cross spokesman Nancy Malone said three homes were destroyed or had major damage, and another five had less significant damage.

Information for this article was contributed by Heather Hollingsworth and staff members of The Associated Press.

A Section on 05/18/2015

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