Rain, flooding continues in North Texas on Saturday

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Part of Interstate 45 between Dallas and Houston briefly reopened Saturday morning before closing again due to storm-related flooding that backed up traffic for miles.

The Texas Department of Transportation said southbound I-45 reopened around 6 a.m. Saturday, but then officials closed the highway in both directions again by 11:15 a.m. More than a foot and a half of rain had fallen in 48 hours in the Corsicana-area, where the closures have occurred.

Flight tracker flightaware.com reported nearly 100 flights canceled Saturday at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. For a second straight day, DFW received a record amount of rainfall. DFW Airport recorded 3 and a half inches on Friday, breaking a record set in 1920. In total, DFW has received more than half a foot of rain since Thursday.

The National Weather Service says a flash flood watch remains in effect for the Dallas, Fort Worth, Waco, Austin and San Antonio areas through Sunday morning.

More than 8,000 homes and business were without power in North Texas as of Saturday morning.

There were 1,600 power outages in Dallas County and Tarrant County had about 1,400. Oncor crews expected to have the power restored to those areas by Saturday afternoon.

Moderate rain was expected this morning will slowly decrease in intensity as a cold front heads in and drops temperatures into the 60s.

Flooding will continue from the Metroplex south and east through Saturday afternoon.

The big question is when the rain stops. The answer is -- it may not until later Sunday, especially for areas to the south thanks to the leftovers of Hurricane Patricia. That will produce very heavy rain down in southeast Texas and leave parts of North Texas on the north fringe of the storm.

A rather cool, raw day is predicted for Sunday with highs only in the lower 60s.

North Texas should slowly see things dry out as the new week starts with temperatures get back into the 70s by Tuesday.  It should be fairly tranquil conditions until late in the week, when rain may again threaten the area.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.