Severe storms and floods batter South and Midwest, as death toll rises to at least 18
Severe storms continued to pound parts of the South and Midwest on Sunday, as a punishing and slow-moving storm system unleashed life-threatening flash floods and powerful tornadoes from Mississippi to Kentucky.
On Sunday, areas that had been battered by high winds and washed out by heavy rains since midweek saw additional inclement weather from the relentless storm system that’s caused road closures, widespread power outages and some voluntary evacuations.
At least 18 people in multiple states have died from weather-related causes since Wednesday, the Associated Press reported.
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear warned residents Sunday morning that the state was in for another day or more of bad weather.
“Please, everybody be careful,” he said. “We’ve tragically lost two individuals, two Kentuckians, two children of God already, and we don’t want to lose any more.”
One of those fatalities was 9-year-old Gabriel Andrews, who was swept away by floodwaters as he walked to his school bus stop in Frankfort Friday morning, WLKY reported.
The Tennessee Department of Health confirmed that 10 people had died in storms in that state. One of the fatalities was a Carroll County Electric Department lineman who died while working, according to the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency.
Half of the deaths in Tennessee occurred in McNairy County. The McNairy County Emergency Management Agency said in a social media post that an EF3 tornado in the southwestern Tennessee county on Thursday damaged 332 buildings, destroying 108 of them.
According to the National Weather Service, parts of Kentucky, Arkansas and Tennessee had received more than a foot of rain, while areas of Illinois, Mississippi and Missouri saw more than 10 inches.
Flash flood warnings were in effect Sunday morning for portions of western Kentucky, Middle Tennessee and central Alabama.
Tornadoes had also been reported in multiple states, and on Sunday morning tornado warnings were in effect for parts of Alabama and Mississippi.
More than 54,000 customers in Arkansas had no power early Sunday afternoon, while thousands were also in the dark in Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama and Texas, according to the website PowerOutage.us.
The flight tracking website FlightAware reported that 103 flights in and out of the U.S. were canceled on Sunday and 2,892 were delayed.
In Tennessee, Montgomery and Obion counties issued voluntary evacuation orders Saturday for areas that were prone to flooding. In Kentucky, Beshear asked residents of Frankfort, to conserve water over the weekend.
The NWS said in a Sunday forecast that the storm system — along with the threats of heavy rainfall and flash flooding — will move east into the Southeastern U.S. throughout the day.
Yet forecasters also warned that flooding could continue for several days in the affected areas even after the heavy rains have dissipated.
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