World Cup city hit by flash floods as ‘critical’ warning issued days before Lionel Messi visit

Dallas has been hit by a series of flash floods with threat to life just days before Argentina and Lionel Messi are due to visit.

Friday morning saw serious flooding hit the area, leading to all available fire engines getting called into action.

The flash floods have rocked the city where England only just visited

A weather warning classed as ‘critical’ was issued to all the people of Dallas with travel not recommended.

Dallas is one of the busier World Cup cities with seven more games set to be held there.

It’s already played host to Netherlands vs Japan and more recently England vs Croatia.

The next match is scheduled for Monday as Argentina take on Austria.

Messi and co are looking to make it back-to-back wins after seeing off Algeria 3-0.

The magic man himself rolled back the years and scored a hat-trick to become the joint-top goalscorer in World Cup history.

He and the team will hope that the weather has cleared up a bit.

The pitch at the Dallas Stadium has a retractable roof, so there will be no concerns over the pitch being flooded.

Flash floods

People in North Texas were left stunned as four to five inches of rain fell in a very short period of time.

Drivers were stranded, with 76 calls made to emergency services to rescue the drivers.

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Many people ended up abandoning their vehicles as the rain came down so fast.

Thunderstorms are expected to continue throughout the rest of Friday and into Saturday with varying severity.

One thing that could impact Argentina is that there are air traffic delays at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport.

But the good news for Argentina and other football fans in Dallas is that the weather forecast is set to hugely improve over the weekend, though, it will be getting hot.

However, the Dallas Stadium is air-conditioned.

Messi is leading the race to be the Golden Boot winner for the World CupGetty

Argentina vs Austria

The current champions of the world have built their team around Messi, and he delivered a hat-trick in the opening game.

It has since been confirmed that his father is under medical supervision with an unspecified health issue.

And Jorge Messi’s son is one goal away from becoming the outright top goalscorer in World Cup history.

Meanwhile, Austria also started their campaign off with a win with a 3-1 win over Jordan.

Ralf Rangnick is the Austria manager, and he knows that a win over Argentina would see them top the group with a draw enough to them Austria into the round of 32.