Heavy rain, flooding, tornadoes forecast for Houston region

Houston authorities have activated their emergency operations centre and the National Weather Service has issued a flash flood watch as a storm system could bring up to 10 inches (25 centimetres) of rain in some areas.

The weather service says flooding is likely for a broad region extending down to the Gulf Coast, with the heaviest rainfall occurring late Friday night into early Saturday.

Most areas will receive upward of 5 inches (13 centimetres) of rain and the coastal region could see damaging winds and isolated tornadoes.

Heavy rain and flash flooding is a concern for other parts of Texas as well, such as the Austin and San Antonio areas.

To the north, meanwhile, snow and freezing rain is forecast for eastern New Mexico and the Oklahoma-Texas panhandles.