Tornadoes and floods wreak havoc, force rescues across Texas

Published 10:55 am Monday, May 11, 2015

Several communities in Texas are reeling after weekend tornadoes and unrelenting rainfall uprooted trees, destroyed property, and claimed several lives. 

Hit hardest was Van, Texas, a small town east of Dallas, where a tornado killed at least two people Saturday night and reduced homes to rubble.  

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At least 25 other tornadoes were reported across country’s midsection on Sunday. 

In Corsicana, Texas first responders and volunteers were stretched thin as 10 inches of rain fell in five hours resulting in flooding that washed out roads and claimed the life of a 23-year-old man whose car had stalled.

A video of one dramatic rescue, shot by a storm chaser, shows a man wading into high rapids and using a pickup truck winch cable to pull an almost-submerged man, who was clinging desperately to a utility pole, to safety. 

Dozens of people were trapped in their vehicles – both in high water, and in parking lots and on roadways across town, unable to get home.