Heavy rain may bring more floods to Louisiana, Texas; 5 dead

[May 21, 2021]    (Reuters) - Heavy rain across the eastern Texas and western Louisiana Gulf Coasts may bring more flooding on Friday, the National Weather Service said, with rainfall-related deaths rising to five in Louisiana.

Of the five deaths, four involved people driving into high water, Lousiana Governor John Bel Edwards said, according to NBC News.

"The Vermilion Parish coroner has confirmed the death of a 46-year-old male whose vehicle crashed into floodwater. The coroner has confirmed this death is considered storm-related", the Louisiana Department of Health said in a statement.

"This will bring the number of confirmed storm-related deaths due to this event to 5 at this time," it added.

The National Weather Service said late on Wednesday that heavy rain across the Gulf coasts of Texas and Louisiana would continue to cause significant flood risk into this weekend.

Widespread flash flood watches and flood warnings were in effect earlier this week over the south-central United States following several days of heavy rainfall, including parts of Arkansas, Mississippi and Oklahoma.

There were also reports of at least four homes and eight cars affected by the flooding in Saline County, resulting in about 15 people being rescued, the Arkansas Division of Emergency Management said earlier this week.

(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Bengaluru, Editing by William Maclean)

[© 2021 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]

Copyright 2021 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.  Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.