Mom, 60, Who Was an Uber Driver Dies in Texas Flooding

A 60-year-old woman died Monday after her vehicle was swept away by heavy flooding in Mesquite, Texas, officials said.

The woman, identified as Jolene Jarrell, was an Uber driver who was headed home after finishing a ride when she got caught in the flood, officials and friends told NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth.

Mesquite Fire Chief Rusty Wilson said the woman, who was a mom of three, was found inside of a vehicle under a bridge after the deluge of water receded from the area, NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth reports.

Friends of Jarrell's added she was on the phone with her husband of 20 years when her car began filling with water — first to her ankles and then to her knees — before the call dropped, NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth reports.

"They told me that themselves that they were on the phone with her and lost contact with her so they were in the act of actually looking for her," Wilson told NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth.

NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth reports Jarrell's husband was the first to spot the wheels of Jarrell's vehicle underneath the bridge, and that Mesquite police officers and firefighters assisted with the recovery once the waters receded hours later.

Uber did not immediately respond to a request for comment from TODAY.

Mesquite, a suburban city east of Dallas, was among many cities in central and southeast Texas hit by heavy rains and flash floods on Monday. Thunderstorms dropped at least 14 inches of rain on the Dallas-Fort Worth area within 24 hours — more precipitation than the area has received in eight months.

The thunderstorms canceled hundreds of flights throughout Texas, and delayed more than half of all departures at Dallas Fort Worth International Airport.

Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins said in a tweet he declared a state of disaster in the county, and requested state and federal assistance for those affected by the floods.

About 9 million people remain under flash flood watches throughout the southeast Tuesday as the storm systems head east.

The flooding in the Dallas area is among four other 1-in-1,000 year flood events that have occurred in the past month: eastern Kentucky, southeast Illinois, Death Valley, California, and St. Louis, Missouri, have all seen record rainfall since late July.