Bill's remnants flood Oklahoma along path to US midsection

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — The remnants of a tropical storm that moved in from the Gulf of Mexico earlier this week focused most of its fury on Oklahoma and Arkansas on Thursday, pushing rivers to record-high water levels and causing flooding as it crawled northward through the nation's midsection.

There were no reports of injuries caused by Tropical Depression Bill, but a 2-year-old boy who was swept away by a fast-running creek in the southern Oklahoma city of Ardmore remained missing on Thursday.

An estimated 10 inches of rain fell overnight on that area north of the Texas border and forced the closure of a section of a major interstate highway.

Bill came ashore as a tropical storm Tuesday southwest of Houston and dumped more than 11 inches of rain along the coast before racing north and eventually slowing as it crossed into Oklahoma.

Heavy rains from a separate weather system hit northern Indiana on Thursday, forcing hundreds of people from their homes near the Iroquois River even before the remnants of Bill move in Friday and Saturday.

Oklahoma and Texas experienced their wettest months on record in May, when rains throughout the Southern Plains triggered floods that killed more than two dozen people, undermined highways and threatened to collapse dams.