Rescue operations underway in flooded Texas town

DALLAS, June 18 (Reuters) Rescue workers tried today to save people trapped on their rooftops by flash floods that killed a 4-year-old girl after heavy weekend rains drenched parts of north Texas.

Local media reported the rains caused traffic fatalities in addition to the death of the young girl in a mobile home park in a suburb of Fort Worth.

There were no immediate reports of casualties today in the town of Gainesville which appeared to be struck by the worst of the flooding. But television footage showed dramatic images of families trapped on the rooftops of their homes as murky floodwaters roared past.

Several residents were seen being rescued by a front-end loader which carried them above the water in its bucket.

''All our people are out right now and we are only taking calls now from people in need of help,'' a dispatcher at the local sheriff's office said.

Gainesville is about 100 km north of Dallas just off a major interstate highway.

After a prolonged drought north Texas has had an exceptionally wet spring and early summer with heavy rains on and off over the past several weeks.

Evidence of flooding could be seen in many places. In the town of Grapevine near the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport a soccer field was submerged under water.

REUTERS SG BST0025