HELENA, Mont. — Helicopters rescued people stranded by flooding in Texas and Montana, including 140 children and counselors stuck in a mountain Bible camp for two days, as severe storms swept the Rockies and the Midwest.

Campers attending the Montana Wilderness School of the Bible near the small town of Augusta, Montana, were lifted out Thursday after a washed-out road cut off the only exit. Montana was just drying out from spring flooding caused by near-record snowfall over the winter when a storm unleashed rain for the past three days.

Teresa Lane, the mother of one of the campers, had an adventure of her own when she and her 9-year-old daughter, Tiffany, spotted a grizzly bear that had been swept away by a fast-running creek on her ranch near Augusta.

"I thought it was a dead cow originally — it was something big and black and floating," Lane said. "Then it flipped around, and it looked at me, and I said, 'Tiffany, it's a bear!'"

She and her daughter followed the bear for about a quarter-mile as it tried to get out. When it finally did, it limped and appeared agitated before running away.

"It was not a happy camper," Lane said.

Texas also saw deluges all week. The soaking in both states comes in stark contrast to the tinder-dry conditions of the American Southwest, which is experiencing drought and an early wildfire season.

Floodwaters running through two cabins and staff housing woke up the Montana campers Tuesday, counselor Dustin Steele said.