3 bodies found after cars swept away in storm-battered Texas
FORT WORTH, Texas -- Search crews have found a third body in floodwaters after record rain deluged the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
Johnson County sheriff's spokesman Tim Jones says deputies responded to a high-water rescue early Friday after three people were swept into the water overnight.
Jones said two people were rescued, but the third person died. Jones said the body was recovered Friday morning near Mansfield, about 18 miles southeast of Fort Worth, but released no other details.
Earlier on Friday, firefighters in Garland, Texas, found a body inside a submerged Hyundai Elantra
Garland fire spokesman, Merrill Balanciere, says that a search and rescue team was called to the scene about 8:30 a.m., but had to wait for the water to recede before checking the car. The driver's name hasn't been released.
The body of a second person, 33-year-old Sandra Jones, was found downstream from her car in Johnson County west of Fort Worth.
Most of the Dallas-Fort Worth area remains under a flash flood watch, with rain expected to continue.
The storm threatens to dump up to eight inches of rain in some areas. Flash flooding led to a number of water rescues overnight in Texas. At least one person is presumed dead.
In Fort Worth, first responders called off their search for a 70-year-old woman who was swept away by the floodwaters, reports Arezow Doost from CBS station KTVT.
Search and rescue crews in Tarrant County, Texas fought the high, rushing water overnight. They were dispatched to find the elderly driver.
"It is difficult for the guys to navigate in the dark and in water like this," said Lt. Kyle Falkner of the Fort Worth Fire Department. "They're doing their best and they've made their way up to where the vehicle originally went into the water."
Tarrant County Deputy Crystal Salazar, 26, was pulled under the water. Her colleagues searched for her for nearly two hours.
"The rain and the water was at such a high rate across the roadway, as she was attempting to get into the car... she herself was swept into the water and taken downstream some distance and lost," said Terry Grisham of the Tarrant County Sheriff's Office.
Salazar was found clinging to a tree a couple hours later and has been taken to a hospital in Fort Worth. Authorities say she will be okay.
Overnight, the Texas Department of Transportation announced that "travel is highly discouraged." Drivers traveling on the Texas panhandle were urged to "drive with caution" due to the freezing rain and icing conditions.
Dallas-Fort Worth broke Friday's rain record in just hours. This is the wettest year on record for Dallas with more than 53 inches of rain. That total will likely rise as the storm system is expected to saturate this region through Sunday.