Flooding hit parts of the US South and Midwest during the Easter holiday weekend.

At least two people, including a child, have died in the US state of Oklahoma after their vehicle was stranded in floodwaters, police said, as severe weather and flooding hit parts of the United States’ South and Midwest during the Easter holiday weekend.

Flood warnings, which suggest that a flood is occurring or is imminent, were in place across Oklahoma.

The National Weather Service said on Sunday that severe thunderstorms were expected from east Texas into far southeast Iowa and Illinois, while the potential for strong tornadoes and damaging winds would exist from central Arkansas into central Missouri.

“This was a historical weather event that impacted roads and caused dozens of high-water incidents,” police in Moore, Oklahoma, about 18km (11 miles) south of Oklahoma City, said in a statement on Sunday.

“One of [the vehicles] left the roadway and was swept under the bridge. At the time of the incident, all but two occupants were rescued. It is with great sadness that we report that two individuals, an adult female and a 12-year-old male, were later located deceased,” the police said.

Authorities in Moore urged people to stay at home and said late on Saturday that they responded to more than a dozen calls from residents whose vehicles were trapped in high water.

A tornado watch was issued for parts of Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, and Oklahoma, the National Weather Service added.

Earlier this month, a deadly spring storm spawned tornadoes and drenching thunderstorms in a swath of the US  stretching from Texas to Ohio, with over a dozen people killed in states in the US South and Midwest.