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Texas Floods: Scores Rescued as State Struggles With Record Rain

Scores of people were rescued from flash flooding in Texas early Friday, as emergency responders struggled to cope with the wettest May on record.
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Scores of people were rescued from flash flooding in central Texas early Friday, as emergency responders throughout the state struggled to cope with another round of storms during the wettest May on record.

In Dallas alone, more than 200 people — all believed to be in cars — were rescued from flooding in the city overnight, according to the Dallas Office of Emergency Management. Nearly 7 inches of rain fell on the city, but there were no immediate reports of injuries or deaths, assistant emergency management coordinator Kevin Oden told NBC News.

Full coverage from NBC Dallas-Fort Worth

Waterlogged highways and roads around Dallas became parking lots through the morning for drivers trying to get to work. The local Red Cross delivered Girl Scout Cookies and water to stranded drivers, reported NBC Dallas-Fort Worth.

Officials have been closely watching rising rivers and creeks in Texas after heavy rains last weekend. At least 27 people have died and 13 went missing in flooding across the state this week. Another victim was identified Friday as Jack Howard Alter, 87, who disappeared in Houston following an attempted water rescue by emergency responders.

The latest flooding alerts have been widespread, extending nearly 800 miles from southern Texas to central Missouri, according to The Weather Channel.

Tarik Hawkins, a 30-year-old who works for a Dallas freight company, said he became stranded while trying to drive to work.

Speaking to NBC News from the side of the road, Hawkins said it had taken him two hours to drive about a mile and described the situation on the road as "very chaotic."

He added: "It's extremely dangerous out there. I drive a Mustang and in some areas the water has been coming up to the hood. The people who have tried to drive through have become stuck, so there are tow trucks and fire trucks rescuing people.

"I've never seen anything like this before. I have seen some severe weather, but this extremely dangerous."

Tow-truck driver Robert Levtzow, was stranded on a flooded Dallas street after responding to a police call.

"I was trying to put in reverse to get out and it died off and the water started rising immediately," he told The Weather Channel. "I was scared, didn’t know really what to do [so] I called my wife immediately."

Israel Ramos, 32, a tower inspector at a communications company in Dallas, said there was 3 inches of water inside his home and the street outside resembled "a river."

He said his neighbor called the police after seeing an SUV floating down the street with a person trapped inside. "They had to be rescued by the fire department," he said.

Officials in Johnson County, about 54 miles south of Dallas, said they had evacuated about 12 people caught in flooding overnight — including some rescued from "homes inundated with water."

Other incidents involved vehicles and authorities instructed residents to stay off the roads for their own safety.

Johnson County emergency management coordinator Jamie Moore told NBC News that 45 roads had been closed in the area by 3:30 a.m. local time (4:30 a.m. ET). About an hour earlier, his agency tweeted that "rescue requests continue to flow in."

In the Austin suburb of Volente, emergency workers recovered a houseboat with 16 people aboard that went adrift in the record floodwaters. There were no injuries, fire officials said.

Flood warnings were issued for 21 communities and flash flood warnings for six, including western Dallas, according to NBC Dallas Fort-Worth. Hail, tornadoes and thunderstorms also remained a possibility.

About 6,700 people in Dallas County were without power as of 10 a.m. local time, with another 1,000 customers in the dark in Collin County, 1,600 in Tarrant County and 181 in Denton County.

The hardest-hit area on Thursday night was the corridor running from Laredo on the border with Mexico up through Dallas and over into Oklahoma City, according to The Weather Channel's Michael Palmer.

Palmer added that the past month had been the wettest May since records began in the late 1800s.

More than 100 flights were canceled or delayed going in and out of Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport on Friday, according to FlightAware.com.

Dallas officials warned commuters to be extremely cautious while driving.

"If you see water on the roadway even if you think it is 1 inch don’t attempt to drive through it ... if there are barricades up on the road, they're there for a reason," Oden told NBC News.