At least 18 people were confirmed dead early Sunday, as a storm system sweeping parts of the South and Midwest brought tornado and flash flood warnings overnight. The storm is set up for more severe weather, which forecasters say could cause rising waterways for days to come.
New tornado warnings were issued overnight in Alabama and Mississippi, along with flash flood warnings for several counties in Kentucky, Mississippi and Tennessee. Many of the impacted areas are already heavily waterlogged by days of severe storms that spawned deadly tornadoes.
Saturday saw more of the torrential rain and flash flooding that has pounded the central U.S., rapidly swelling waterways and prompting a series of flash flood emergencies in multiple states, from Texas to Ohio. The National Weather Service said 45 river locations in multiple states were expected to reach what the agency called “major flood stage,” with extensive flooding of structures, roads, bridges and other critical infrastructure possible.
At least 18 people were killed as the tornadoes destroyed entire neighborhoods, with more twisters possible in places this weekend. Ten people have been confirmed dead in Tennessee alone, and flooding killed at least two in Kentucky — a 9-year-old boy swept away Friday on his way to school, and a 74-year-old whose body was found Saturday inside a fully submerged vehicle in Nelson County, authorities said.
Ryan C. Hermens / AP
And interstate commerce is affected — the extreme flooding across a corridor that includes the major cargo hubs in Louisville, Kentucky and Memphis could lead to shipping and supply chain delays, said Jonathan Porter, chief meteorologist at AccuWeather.
The outburst comes at a time when nearly half of NWS forecast offices have 20% vacancy rates after Trump administration job cuts — twice that of just a decade ago.
Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg said Saturday that the Ohio River had risen five feet in 24 hours and would continue to swell for days.
“We expect this to be one of the top 10 flooding events in Louisville history,” he said.
Since Wednesday, more than a foot of rain — or 30.5 centimeters — has now fallen in parts of Kentucky, and more than 8 inches has fallen in parts of Arkansas and Missouri, forecasters said Saturday.
Risk of flash flooding remains high
As the swollen Kentucky River kept rising, officials diverted traffic and turned off utilities to businesses in the city built around it, Quire said. “The rain just won’t stop. It’s been nonstop for days and days,” she said.
The river’s depth had risen above 47 feet Sunday and was expected to crest above 49 feet Monday morning to a record-setting level, according to Frankfort Mayor Layne Wilkerson. The city’s flood wall system is designed to withstand 51 feet of water.
Forecasters said that flooding could persist as torrential rains lingered over several states. Tornadoes are possible in Alabama, Georgia and Florida, forecasters said.
For many, there was a sense of dread that the worst was still to come.
“This flooding is an act of God,” said Kevin Gordon, a front desk clerk at the Ashbrook Hotel in downtown Frankfort. The hotel was open Sunday and offering discounted stays to affected locals, but Gordon said it could eventually be forced to close.
Flash flooding is particularly worrisome in rural Kentucky where water can rush off hillsides into low-lying areas. Less than three years ago, dozens died in flooding in the Appalachian region of eastern Kentucky.
In north-central Kentucky, emergency officials ordered a mandatory evacuation for Falmouth, a town of 2,000 people in a bend of the swelling Licking River, as the rising water summoned fears of damaging floods. The warnings were similar to catastrophic flooding nearly 30 years prior when the river reached a record 50 feet high, resulting in at least 10 deaths and 1,000 homes destroyed.
Over in Arkansas, weather officials pleaded with the public to avoid all travel unless absolutely necessary due to the widespread flooding.
In northeast Arkansas’s Craighead County, officials Saturday night asked residents to remain indoors and avoid travel due to “significant flooding” that had made “numerous country roads currently impassable.”
On Saturday, BNSF confirmed that a railroad bridge in Mammoth Spring was washed out by floodwaters that caused the derailment of several cars. No injuries were reported, but BNSF had no immediate estimate of when the bridge would reopen
In Frankfort, Kentucky, a 9-year-old boy died in the morning after floodwaters swept him away while he was walking to a school bus stop, Gov. Andy Beshear said on social media. Officials said Gabriel Andrews’ body was found about a half-mile from where he went missing.
The downtown area of Hopkinsville, Kentucky — a city of 31,000 residents 72 miles northwest of Nashville — was submerged. A dozen people were rescued from homes, and dozens of pets were moved away from rising water, a fire official told The Associated Press.
Tornadoes leave a path of damage, and more could be coming
At least two reports of observed tornadoes were noted Friday evening in Missouri and Arkansas, according to the National Weather Service.
“TAKE COVER NOW!” the weather service said on X in response to the one on the ground around the small Missouri town of Advance.
In the initial wave of storms that spawned powerful tornadoes on Wednesday and early Thursday, at least 10 people were killed in Tennessee, according to the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency, two each in Kentucky and Missouri, one in Indiana and one in Arkansas, according to a CBS News count. They included a Tennessee man and his teen daughter whose home was destroyed, and a man whose pickup struck downed power lines in Indiana. In Missouri, Garry Moore, who was chief of the Whitewater Fire Protection District, died while likely trying to help a stranded motorist, according to Highway Patrol spokesperson Sgt. Clark Parrott.
Jon Cherry / AP
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee said entire neighborhoods in the hard-hit town of Selmer were “completely wiped out” and said it was too early to know whether there were more deaths as searches continued. He warned people across the state to stay vigilant with more severe weather predicted.
George Walker IV / AP
“Don’t let your guard down,” he said during a Thursday evening news conference. “Don’t stop watching the weather. Don’t stop preparing yourself. Have a plan.”
With flattened homes behind him, Dakota Woods described seeing the twister come through Selmer.
“I was walking down the street,” Woods said Thursday. “Next thing you know, I look up, the sky is getting black and blacker, and it’s lighting up green lights, and it’s making a formation of a twister or tornado.”
By late Thursday, extremely heavy rain had fallen in parts of southeastern Missouri and western Kentucky and was causing “very dangerous/life threatening flash flooding” in some spots, according to the National Weather Service.
Flash flooding is particularly worrisome in rural areas of the state where water can quickly rush off the mountains into the hollows. Less than four years ago, dozens died in flooding across eastern Kentucky.
Extreme flooding across the corridor that includes Louisville, Kentucky, and Memphis, which have major cargo hubs, could also lead to shipping and supply chain delays, said Jonathan Porter, chief meteorologist at AccuWeather.
