The Rio Grande's Destructive Path

Crushed cars and household appliances strewn outdoors greeted people who returned home Thursday as flood waters from the Rio Grande rolled farther downstream.

"Everything was ruined everything," said Maria Adame, 75, as she carried mud-caked clothes, chairs and food from her home.

Inside the house, her husband Onesimo used a small shovel to push piles of muck from the dining room. "We'll try our best to rebuild, but we'll need some help," he said.

The death toll from the flooding, which was blamed on a weekend tropical storm, rose to 17 Thursday after authorities confirmed finding three more bodies on both sides of the Rio Grande.

Two of the bodies were found in Mexico. So far, five of those killed were in Mexico and 12 in Texas.

The Rio Grande, which forms the border between the United States and Mexico in southwestern Texas, was expected to flood farther downstream. Damage was not expected to be as heavy since communities further to the south were at higher elevations.

In Laredo, about 150 miles to the south, 30 homes were damaged by a crest of water that roiled downstream, authorities said Thursday.

"We work hard to make money and have the things we have," Rosalva Gualito Carrizales said as she stood near her neighbors' submerged homes in Rio Bravo, near Laredo. "You feel sad ... to see that in a little while they have lost everything."

The river crested at Laredo on Wednesday before moving on toward Rio Bravo.

In Del Rio, dozens of people were missing in the city of 34,000. Search teams were looking for other victims in piles of debris. Authorities believed many if not all of the missing were safe, however.

"We're trying to remain hopeful that the number of fatalities won't increase," said Judy Altom, a spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Public Safety.

Martin Mata returned to his father's flooded creekside home, carrying out family photographs.

"This is the first time we've come out here to look at it," Mata said. "It's scary to see."

A car sat crushed under a roof. Pieces of homes were scattered for miles amid uprooted trees and twisted fences. Clothing and appliances were spread over lawns.

The flooding damaged nearly 1,000 Del Rio homes and businesses. While many were trickling back into Del Rio, hundreds of people remained at a Red Cross shelter at the Del Rio Civic Center.

Thousands of people were in camp shelters across the river in Ciudad Acuna, Mexico. The Mexican news agency Notimex said the flooding damaged houses in 20 neighborhoods.