TO CLOSE

Dozens of vehicles parked in a Dallas airport are under water after the heavy rains that have fallen on much of Texas.
AP

Violent storms caused floods and tornadoes in Texas and Louisiana on Wednesday and early Thursday, killing at least five people.

Two people were killed Thursday morning in Ruston, north-central Louisiana, after a tornado hit the city and campus of Louisiana Tech University around 2:30 am local time.

"I've never seen it so bad in 43 years, it's tragic and it will take a little while before everything is cleaned up," said Lincoln Parish sheriff Mike Stone.

Ruston Mayor Ronny Walker confirmed the two deaths but refused to identify them.

"It's bad, really bad," Walker said. "We took a direct hit."

According to hydrologist from the National Meteorological Service, C.S. Ross, it appears that the tornado has dug a trail of more than 130 km between East Texas and the Louisiana-Arkansas border.

The same group of thunderstorms caused floods and storms in Texas on Wednesday, the Weather Channel newspaper reported.

About 100 kilometers southwest of Fort Worth, a woman and two children were killed when the family's car was taken in rough water, authorities said. The incident occurred around 6 am in what is usually a small cove just outside of Dublin.

The weather channel Weather Channel has announced that the threat of severe weather, including possible large hail and tornadoes, would continue to move in the southeast on Thursday.

The greatest threat of severe weather will move east through southeastern Louisiana, into Mississippi and into a western part of Alabama, said AccuWeather.

Thursday's opening of the New Orleans Jazz Fest was delayed due to storms, organizers said the event.

Contributing: The Associated Press; The new star (Monroe, La.)

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