Hurricane Pamela: Woman and girl killed by flash flood in Texas

Vehicles were on way to elementary school when they were swept into creek

A woman and a young girl were killed when flash floods in Texas caused by Hurricane Pamela swept their vehicles away, officials say.

Both victims were part of the same extended family and were in two vehicles on their way to an elementary school in the outskirts of San Antonio, Texas, when tragedy struck.

Authorities say that one of the cars was being driven by a man with two boys and a five-year-old girl as passengers, while a 52-year-old woman was driving two boys when they were swept into St Hedwig’s Martinez Creek in Bexar County.

The man and the four boys were all rescued by emergency services but the two victims could not be saved.

“There’s nothing more heartbreaking than to see the body of a five-year-old pulled out of a car,” said Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar.

“She was still wearing her backpack ... it just doesn’t get any worse than that.”

A dive team planned to return to the swollen creek on Friday to remove the woman’s body from the vehicle, which is now more than 10ft under water.

Officials have not released the names of the victims.

Hurricane Pamela made landfall on Mexico’s Pacific coast on Wednesday, before moving into central Texas and Oklahoma on Thursday as a tropical storm that brought heavy rain.

Around 3.5-inches of rain fell in the San Antonio area, while more than double that hit Gonzales, Texas, according to AccuWeather.

Authorities say that a number of children had to be rescued from trees in Bexar County, after climbing into them to escape the flooding.

Weather experts say that this kind of weather system hitting Texas from a Pacific hurricane is very unusual and has only happened a handful of times in the past 75-years.