 Eight dead in Uruguay floods: officials Rosario, Uruguay (AFP) April 18, 2016 - Storms and floods in Uruguay have killed eight people and drove 4,000 from their homes in recent days, authorities said Monday, updating an earlier toll. Four people were killed and 200 injured when a storm struck the western city of Dolores on Friday and three others were later found to have died while trying to cross flooded rivers in the region, according to a government toll. A fifth person there died on Friday from injuries, officials said. Countless buildings were destroyed in Dolores, according to an AFP reporter in the town. The National Emergency System on Monday raised to 4,031 the number of people across the country forced to abandon their homes after rivers burst their banks. The hardest-hit town was Rosario, 130 kilometers (90 miles) west of the capital Montevideo, where waters from the Rosario River had swept away houses. The floodwater was starting to subside and people returning to their homes on Monday. But the national weather service warned that more heavy rain was on the way. Cleaning up his flooded house in Rosario, Mauricio Alvarez, 46, told AFP that on Saturday "the river rose so quickly there was no time to do anything." The flooded river at one point cut off the main national highway that links Montevideo to the tourist town of Sacramento de Colonia and the Argentine capital Buenos Aires.
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Flooding in and around the US city of Houston has killed at least five people and prompted mass rescues, reports said.
With rain wreaking havoc in the Texas city -- the fourth most populous in the country -- Governor Greg Abbott declared a state of disaster in nine counties.
A flash flood watch for Houston will remain in effect until Wednesday morning, with more rain expected Tuesday, the city's Office of Emergency Management warned.
Rain came down at rates as high as four inches an hour on Monday, the Weather Channel reported, saying some residents were trapped in their homes and cars.
The Houston Chronicle quoted authorities as saying at least five people had lost their lives in the deluge, including a junior high school teacher.
Officials in Harris County said more than 1,200 high water rescues had been carried out, including nearly 900 within Houston city limits, the newspaper reported.
CNN broadcast footage of cars partially engulfed on roadways that had turned into swollen rivers.
In one scene, a man is seen scrambling out of his car and swimming to safety through murky water on a submerged roadway just shortly before his car sinks and disappears from view.
Houston International Airport experienced its second wettest day ever recorded on Monday, the National Weather Service for Houston/Galveston said on Twitter.
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