Texas flooding proves deadly

  • 30/05/2016
(AAP)
(AAP)

Six people have died after heavy rains triggered massive flooding in Texas, with the high water prompting the evacuation of two prisons.

The rain has stopped, but in some areas flood waters continue to rise -- submerging cars and stranding drivers.

Some rivers could reach record levels in the next few days, prompting several rural counties between Austin and Houston to call for evacuations.

Hundreds of residents, including Kurt Whiteman, have been forced from their homes.

"I've been here 20 years, and this is the worst I've seen it," he said.

Twenty-one-year-old Darren Mitchell posted an eerie picture from inside his truck on Facebook as water surrounded him.

"All I wanted to do was go home".

Witness Lashondoe Smith saw Mr Mitchell struggling.

"He got out of his truck, he got in the bed of his truck, he got back out, on top of his truck -- and then all of a sudden he got back in his truck," she explained.

"And like maybe 10, 15 minutes after he was in his truck, it just flipped and he topsided into the water."

Washington County officials confirm one of the bodies they recovered on Saturday was Mr Mitchell's.

"To see his truck like that and know I witnessed something like that -- it just hurts," Ms Smith said.

CBS News