FORT HOOD, Texas — Five soldiers were killed and four were missing after an Army truck was washed from a low-water crossing and overturned Thursday in a rain-swollen creek at Fort Hood, a spokesman for the Texas Army post said.

Aerial and ground crews searched the 20-mile Owl Creek that winds through heavily wooded terrain on the northern fringe of the 340-square-mile Army base after the truck flipped in swift flood waters during a late morning during a training exercise. Three soldiers were rescued and were hospitalized in stable condition.

Parts of Texas have been inundated with rain in the last week, and more than half of the state is under flood watches or warnings, including the counties near Fort Hood. At least six people died in floods last week in Central and Southeast Texas.

Army aircraft, canine search teams, swift-water rescue watercraft, and heavy trucks were being used in the search. The Army did not release the names of the dead because it was notifying relatives.

Parts of Texas still recovering from rainfall were watching a new batch of storms that could dump up to 10 inches of rain from Thursday through Saturday and worsen flooding caused by rivers and other waterways that already have risen to record levels.

A storm system that moved through the Houston-area Wednesday night and Thursday morning dumped nearly 8 inches of rain in some of the city’s northern suburbs, causing flooding in some neighborhoods. In Fort Bend County, about 1,400 homes have been affected by the Brazos River, swollen by heavy rainfall from last week.

Associated Press