By Jose Serrano (staff@latinospost.com) | First Posted: May 20, 2015 07:35 PM EDT
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Torrential rain and fast-moving tornadoes ripped through Texas and Oklahoma Tuesday night, leaving one person dead and numerous buildings damaged.

Flash floods in San Angelo - located about 200 miles northwest of Austin - killed an unidentified male whose truck hydroplaned into a tree, a San Angelo Police Department spokesman confirmed to the Weather Channel. One woman was saved when floodwaters engulfed her car in a McDonald's parking lot.

All flights to San Angelo Regional Airport were temporarily diverted as nearly three inches of rain fell in a 45 minute span. The city's 2.82 average inches of rainfall in May is on pace to be the wettest month ever recorded.

A severe thunderstorm system set off tornadoes through the Great Plains, one which collapsed an abandoned building in Mineral Wells, Texas. The bank was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

No injuries were reported, but the EF-1 twister topples several roofs, damaged two churches, and grazed police headquarters. The State Department of Public Safety urged residents to stay away from downtown as downed power lines could cause fatal injuries.

"The heavy rainfall was sorely needed to break a years-long extreme drought that has gripped the region, but in many areas, the persistent downpours have proven to be too much to handle," said Weather Channel meteorologist Sean Breslin. "This has kept authorities busy, as constant water rescues have been performed in Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas."

The Oklahoma Department of Transportation reported numerous highway closures stemming from the rain, including one in Kiowa County that is expected to last into next week. Floods that closed a school, nursing home, and hospital in Talihina on Wednesday may continue to be a serious threat heading into the Memorial Day weekend.

Beginning Thursday night into Friday, severe storms will add to record-breaking rainfall totals in the Southern Plains. The threat of significant flash floods is high, along with a heightened risk of hail and damaging wind gusts.

Scattered severe, yet slow-moving thunderstorms will work their way east throughout the weekend, bringing moderate tornadoes similar to those that have ravaged the region over the last two weeks.

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