2 dead in Missouri flash flood; tornado threat in the South

DECATUR, Texas -- Two people died early Friday in Missouri when a car was swept away during torrential rains that were part of a severe weather system roaring across parts of the Midwest and South.

The accident happened just after midnight in a sparsely populated area of southwestern Missouri. Authorities said six young adults were in the vehicle that was swept away as the car tried to cross a bridge over a flooded creek in the town of Grovespring.

Four of the six made it out of the water. But the body of Devon Holt, 20, of Grovespring was found at 3:30 a.m., and the body of Alexander Roman-Ranelli, 19, of Springfield was recovered about six hours later, Missouri State Highway Patrol Sgt. Thomas Young said.

The driver told authorities that torrential rains made it difficult to see that water from a creek had covered the bridge, Young said.

Meanwhile, the search continued in another southwestern Missouri county for a woman who was missing after flash flooding from a small river washed a car off the road. The Logan Rogersville Fire Protection District said the victim's dog was found safe, but there was no sign of the woman. Two others who were in the car were rescued.

Some parts of southern Missouri saw nearly 3 inches of rain Thursday night and into Friday morning, and severe weather was hitting other areas, too. A suspected tornado touched down early Friday in north Texas as a volatile storm system threatened to spawn tornadoes in several Southern states.

Matt Elliott, warning coordination meteorologist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma, said severe weather is expected across several states.

"We're talking several tornadoes, including some that might be strong and intense," Elliott said.

The Storm Prediction Center warned the greatest threat of tornadoes would come Friday afternoon and evening in portions of Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee. Storms with damaging winds and hail were forecast from eastern Texas and southeastern Oklahoma into parts of southeastern Missouri and Southern Illinois.

Heavy rain Thursday night and Friday morning caused flash flooding in parts of Missouri, where authorities said a vehicle became stranded near the town of Fordham. Rescue crews responded late Thursday near a low-water crossing at the Finley River, officials with the Logan Rogersville Fire Protection District said on Facebook.

Two people were rescued but a third remained missing Friday morning. Crews planned to use boats and have searchers walking along the river bank.

Some areas of southern Missouri have received 3 inches of rain since Thursday, the weather service said, and rainfall was expected to continue into Saturday morning. Most of southern Missouri was under a flash flood watch or warning Friday.

In Texas, a suspected tornado struck about 5 a.m. in the southwest corner of Wise County, damaging homes and downing trees and power lines, said Cody Powell, the county's emergency management coordinator. Powell said he had no reports of injuries.

The weather service had not confirmed a tornado, but damage to homes was also reported in neighboring Parker County, meteorologist Matt Stalley said, and investigators likely will go to the area later Friday to make that determination.

The two areas are about 10 miles apart on the western edge of the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, and Stalley said the storm system was expected to move east of the region by early Friday afternoon.

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Associated Press writer Jim Salter in O'Fallon, Missouri and Jackie Quinn in Washington, D.C. contributed to this report.