Once-parched Texas city orders evacuation due to floods

AUSTIN, Texas (Reuters) - A North Texas city that a few months ago was in a drought so severe that it had to recycle sewage water for drinking ordered residents on Thursday to evacuate certain areas due to flooding. Wichita Falls, about 125 miles northwest of Dallas, issued a mandatory evacuation order for hundreds of residents in vulnerable neighborhoods due to rising water levels on the Wichita River. Wichita Falls and other parts of Texas that had been in an extreme drought for about a year have had their water situation improve vastly this month due to storms that have helped to fill depleted lakes. With reservoirs in dire shape, Wichita Falls in July 2014 opened the spigots on a $13 million system that mixes millions gallons a day of treated waste water with area lake water to keep drinking water flowing for its 105,000 residents. (Corrects story to say that Wichita Falls is northwest of Dallas.) (Reporting by Jon Herskovitz; Editing by Will Dunham)