Hurricane Patricia: Texas feels effects of storm as flooding pummels state

• Heavy rain continues to fall as freight train derails
• Parts of Louisiana, southern Oklahoma and Arkansas under flash flood alert

Aftermath of Union Pacific freight train derailment.


Joanna Walters in New York-Saturday 24 October 2015

Dangerous flooding was occurring in Texas in the early hours of Saturday, as gushing waters closed the interstate between Dallas and Houston and caused a freight train to completely derail and overturn.

A creek that broke its banks near Corsicana in the north of the state swept away train tracks in the night, causing a Union Pacific freight train to collapse into the flood waters around 3.30am a spokesman for the rail company said. The two crew members were forced to swim to safety.

One locomotive and several rail cars loaded with gravel went into the water and were partly submerged, the spokesman said. 

More than 16in of rain fell Friday in the Corsicana area as the outer reaches of hurricane Patricia, which made landfall on the Pacific coast of Mexico, were felt across the south-central US. The rain was still heavy and steady as Saturday began.

Later, Galveston County judge Mark Henry issued a voluntary evacuation for Bolivar Peninsula, just northeast of Galveston Island, after forecasters predicted that the area would get 8in to 12in of rain and tides 4ft to 5ft high.

Henry warned that residents who did not leave might find themselves cut off from emergency services as the heaviest winds and rains came ashore. The storm was expected to reach the area by around 6pm on Saturday.

“Elderly residents and people with medical conditions should make plans to leave the area before dark,” Henry said.

A county spokeswoman, Brittany Rainville, said there were buses waiting to evacuate people, but no one had shown up to leave as of early Saturday afternoon. She said about 4,000 people lived on the peninsula.

Flight tracker flightaware.com reported that about 100 flights had been canceled at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.

Parts of Louisiana, southern Oklahoma and Arkansas were under flash flood alert and torrential, relentless rain was expected to persist through Saturday and in some cases into Monday.

One man was missing in the San Antonio area of Texas, after entering a ditch of swift flood water in attempt to rescue his dog.