A line of storms stretching from the Gulf of Mexico to the Great Lakes has dumped record rainfall on parts of the US Plains and Midwest, causing major flooding that forced at least 2,000 Texans from their homes.

Three deaths were blamed on the storms including two in Oklahoma and one in Texas. One man's body was recovered from a flooded area along the Blanco River in Texas, which rose 26ft in an hour and created huge piles of debris.

The line of storms prompted tornado warnings and watches as far north as Illinois and the weather system is expected to linger over a large swathe of the region on Monday, dampening Memorial Day holiday plans for many.

Among the worst-affected communities were Wimberley and San Marcos, which are in Central Texas along the Blanco River in the increasingly popular corridor between Austin and San Antonio.

"It looks pretty bad out there," Hays County emergency management coordinator Kharley Smith said of Wimberley, where an estimated 350 to 400 homes were destroyed and where three people remained missing late on Sunday.

"We do have whole streets with maybe one or two houses left on them and the rest are just slabs."

Kristi Wyatt, a spokeswoman for San Marcos, said about 1,000 homes were damaged throughout Hays County, which includes Wimberley and which will be toured Monday by Governor Greg Abbott.

Five San Marcos police cars were washed away and the fire station was flooded. The city imposed a 9pm emergency curfew.

Rivers swelled so quickly that whole communities awoke Sunday surrounded by water. The Blanco crested above 40ft - more than triple its flood stage of 13ft - swamping Interstate 35 and forcing parts of the busy north-south highway to close. Rescuers used pontoon boats and a helicopter to pull people out.

Hundreds of trees along the Blanco were uprooted or snapped, and they collected in piles of debris that soared 20 feet high.