Hundreds of people rescued after heavy rainfall in South Texas

Hundreds of people had to be rescued Thursday last week from flooding in South Texas, where rainfall has drenched communities all week.

Mayor Armando O'Caña said about 200 water rescues had been performed just in the border city of Mission. The City of McAllen and many other communities also reported hundreds of water rescues of residents from their communities.

Texas Department of Public Safety Lt. Johnny Hernandez said authorities were sometimes using helicopters to rescue people.

"We're still conducting life-saving rescues as we speak," O'Caña said Thursday afternoon.

The National Weather Service said some areas in South Texas got more than 15 inches (38 centimeters) of rain over the last four days.

Thunderstorms in Texas last week have also brought heavy rains to  the Corpus Christi area and the Beaumont-Port Arthur area, east of Houston -  areas that less than a year ago were hit by flooding from Hurricane Harvey.

Governor Greg Abbott issued a disaster declaration for six counties hit by flooding: Cameron, Hidalgo and Willacy counties in far South Texas and Aransas, Nueces and San Patricio counties in the Corpus Christi area.

Shelters in far South Texas include three set up by the American Red Cross, which housed more than 200 people on Wednesday night, a Red Cross spokeswoman said.

McAllen — where first lady Melania Trump made an unannounced visit to a facility housing migrant children — likely got hit with 7 to 10 inches (18 to 25 centimeters) of rain in some areas on Thursday, emergency management coordinator Kevin Pagan said.

Several other parts of the U.S. were also experiencing heavy rains and flooding.

In Montana, creeks and rivers were also receiving large amounts of water from rains last weekend along the Rocky Mountain Front downstream toward the Missouri River.

Flooding in Minnesota and South Dakota caused some road closures, including the brief shutdown of Interstate 90 in Minnesota. The Argus Leader in South Dakota reported that a woman was rescued when her pickup became stranded in floodwaters east of Sioux Falls.

In northwest Iowa, several roads were flooded and Iowa Highway 60 flooded over in the Ashton area, forcing traffic to detour.

Photo & Video (Above) by the City of McAllen, one of the communities hit hard by the rain and flooding in South Texas.