At least four people have died since Monday trying to cross the Rio Grande into Texas, the authorities said Tuesday, another deadly sign of the extremes to which migrants will go to reach the United States.

Heavy rains have transformed the usually slow-moving stream near El Paso into a treacherous torrent, engulfing people trying to make the already-dangerous journey. Members of the city’s water rescue team pulled the first victim from the water around noon Monday, a 37-year-old woman who died a short time later at a hospital.

Early Tuesday, firefighters retrieved three other victims — two teenagers, a boy and a girl, and an adult woman. Seven people were rescued, the authorities said.

A spokesman for the El Paso Police Department said local and federal authorities were searching the Rio Grande for several people who were unaccounted for.