FORT WORTH, Texas  — Residents of some rural southeast Texas counties braced for more flooding along a river that is expected to crest at a record level just two years after it had run dry in places because of drought.

National Weather Service meteorologists predicted the Brazos River would crest at 53.5 feet by midday today in Fort Bend County, three feet above the previous record and topping a 1994 flood that caused extensive damage.

During four days of torrential rain, six people died in floods along the Brazos, which runs from New Mexico to the Gulf of Mexico. A Brazos River Authority map shows all 11 of the reservoirs fed by the Brazos at 95 to 100 percent capacity.

Four of the six dead were recovered in Washington County, located between Austin and Houston, County Judge John Brieden said. Lake Somerville, one of the Brazos reservoirs, was “gushing uncontrollably” over the spillway, threatening people downriver, he said.

About 40 people were rescued from late Sunday to Monday from homes in a low-lying neighborhood flooded with up to three feet of water in Simonton, a town in Fort Bend County with about 800 residents.