5 dead, at least 2 missing after floods in Texas, Kansas

HOUSTON — Central Texas authorities spotted a body during an aerial search Sunday, bringing the death toll from flooding to five.

It’s unclear whether the body found in Travis County near Austin is one of the two still missing in Texas. An 11-year-old boy is still missing in central Kansas, too.

Near Austin, a crew aboard a county STAR Flight helicopter found a body Sunday on the north end of a retention pond near the Circuit of the Americas auto racing track, which is close to where two people were reported to have been washed away by a flash flood early Friday, Travis County sheriff’s spokesman Lisa Block said.

To the southeast along the rain-swollen Brazos River near Houston, prison officials evacuated about 2,600 inmates from two prisons to other state prisons because of expected flooding, Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokesman Jason Clark said.

“TDCJ officials continue to monitor the situation and are working with our state partners as the river level rises,” Clark said.

The rising water in several Houston-area rivers and creeks prompted Harris County officials on Saturday to ask about 750 families in the Northwood Pines subdivision to voluntarily evacuate their homes and apartments.

Officials also warned residents living near the west fork of the San Jacinto River, north of Houston, that rising waters were likely to flood homes, even those that are elevated, Sanchez said.

“The skies are clear and things look good. But we want to make sure people understand that we are not out of the woods yet. We have to keep an eye on water that’s coming through our bayou system,” said Francisco Sanchez, a spokesman for the Office of Emergency Management in Harris County.

In Kansas, the search for a missing 11-year-old boy resumed Sunday and expanded beyond the swollen creek he fell into Friday night, according to Wichita Fire Department battalion chief Scott Brown.