San Antonio submerged

Roads were closed and homes were inundated after torrential rains poured across the city of San Antonio for two straight days.

The city reported a staggering 310mm of rain in just 48 hours. This is nearly three times the average for the entire month of May.

As the waters rose, emergency services rescued more than one hundred people who became stranded in their cars.

One woman died after she climbed onto her car’s roof to escape the water. The floods continued to rise, and swept her away.

Another two people are also confirmed to have died, including a teenage boy who tried to swim across a swollen creek.

The city’s mayor, Julian Castro, urged people to stay at home and not to travel.

Texas, like the majority of the US Plains, is currently in the grip of a drought. In the long term, the vast amounts of water will prove very useful across the region. However, clearly it would have been preferable if the rain hadn’t all fallen at once.

The flood water is now receding, and the weather should stay dry on Monday and Tuesday.