Texas floods kill 2, strand hundreds*

By Angela K. Brown, Associated Press Writer

GAINESVILLE, Texas — Torrential overnight rains swamped a handful of
North Texas towns Monday, killing at least two people, prompting
hundreds of evacuations and leaving numerous people stranded on rooftops
awaiting rescue.

Creeks swollen from as much as 8 inches of rainfall since midnight
overflowed into the towns of Gainesville and Sherman near the Oklahoma
border, leaving them largely inundated with brownish floodwaters.

A 4-year-old girl, Alexandria Collins, died after she was swept away by
rushing water in Haltom City, a Fort Worth suburb. The girl's mother,
Natasha Collins, told television station KXAS that the last time she saw
her daughter was "when the current took her out of my arms. We reached
the boat, and the boat capsized."

But firefighters said the girl was already missing by the time they
pulled her mother onto a boat. Lt. Kent Worley, a spokesman for the Fort
Worth Fire Department, said the Hovercraft never capsized and he didn't
know of other boats involved in the rescue.

In Sherman, about 60 miles northwest of Dallas near the Oklahoma border,
a woman died after her car stalled in rising waters and was swept away,
Sherman police Sgt. Bruce Dawsey said.

About 125 residents of a nursing home were being evacuated, and an
unknown number of people were being rescued from an office building
where the roof started caving in, Dawsey said. Authorities were telling
residents of an apartment complex near a rising creek to go the second
floor and wait for help, Dawsey said.

A firefighter who was struck by lightning was back at work and assisting
in rescue efforts, Dawsey said.

In Gainesville, about 60 miles northwest of Dallas, most of the city —
including downtown — was deluged with brown floodwaters. The flooding
had receded from parts of downtown by mid-day.

Aerial video of Gainesville showed rescuers pulling adults, children and
even pets off of rooftops and helping them into boats. Dozens of people
seeking refuge from high water on a railroad crossing. Entire families
awaited rescue on their roofs, some having hacked their way from their
attics to the outside.

Mobile homes were swamped, and residents navigated the flooded streets
in boats, looking for stranded residents to rescue.

About 37,000 people live in Sherman, and about 16,500 in Gainesville.

Authorities closed Interstate 35 from Gainesville to Oklahoma for
several hours because of flooding, according to the Texas Department of
Public Safety in Sherman. Flooding also caused some parts of State
Highway 75 in Sherman to be closed, as well as other roads in Cooke County.

The National Weather Service estimated Monday morning that eight inches
of rain fell in some spots after midnight — at times, the downpour was
an inch every 15 minutes.

"We get heavy rains in North Texas, but the rate, the amount, the
duration and the coverage of this are just amazing," said Gary Woodall,
the warning-coordination meteorologist for the Weather Service office in
Fort Worth.

The Weather Service said most of the rainfall has moved on, but that
there was a chance of isolated thunderstorms in the area Monday and
Tuesday. Overall, however, the weather was expected to improve as a
low-pressure system spun off to the northeast.

In Haltom City, the floodwaters unleashed by an overnight storm flooded
about 100 mobile homes, washing many from their foundations, emergency
officials said. At least one mobile home burned, and gas leaks were
reported, said Haltom City Deputy Fire Chief Fred Napp.

"When I looked out the window, water was up to the bottom of the window
and the current was so fast houses were washing away, said Haltom City
resident Rachel Hawkes. "You could hear people screaming but we couldn't
get out to help."

Rand LaVonn, a spokesman for Atmos Energy, said crews were going door to
door to disconnect natural gas meters as a precaution.

Contributing: Associated Press writers Rich Matthews, Terry Wallace and
David Koenig in Dallas contributed to this report.