10 hours Ago
Floodwaters inundated communities across the South and Midwest on Sunday, the result of days of rain from a dangerous line of storms that has claimed at least 19 lives since the middle of last week. Over a foot of rain has fallen across the mid-South since Wednesday. On Saturday over a dozen daily rainfall records were set in Arkansas and Tennessee.
Little Rock got over 6 inches, and Nashville got nearly 4 inches. Memphis hit 5.47 inches, making Saturday the city’s wettest day ever in April.
The relentless rain was dumped by a line of dangerous storms that also produced tornadoes across the central US. The National Weather Service has logged at least 31 tornadoes since the storms began, with three rated as EF3 strength. As of Saturday, the US had seen 10 consecutive days of tornadoes.
The storms have left at least 19 people dead across seven states, including 10 in Tennessee alone. Among those killed are a 5-year-old boy found in a storm-damaged home in Arkansas and a 9-year-old Kentucky boy who was swept away by floodwaters while walking to his school bus stop. On Sunday, a father and son were killed on a Georgia golf course when the tree they’d taken shelter under fell on them, according to CNN affiliate WTVM .
The dayslong rain is finally set to subside Monday, but the flood threat across the South and Midwest will not. Rivers are still on the rise in several already flood-ravaged states. The Kentucky River is expected to peak in Frankfort, Kentucky, just shy of the city’s protective flood walls.
“As long as I’ve been alive — and I’m 52 — this is the worst I’ve ever seen it,” Wendy Quire, the general manager of the Brown Barrel restaurant in downtown Frankfort, told the Associated Press . Floodwaters devastate broad swath of Kentucky The widespread flooding has triggered evacuations, water rescues, and warnings to move to higher ground across Kentucky. In Frankfort, the Kentucky River is predicted to crest at a new record of 49.
5 feet – worringly close to what the city’s flood protections can handle. “The flood wall system is designed to withstand 51 ft. of water, assuming all sandbag lines, temporary protection and levee closure structures are in place,” the city said in a statement.
Frankfort’s government warned that floodwaters could spill over in areas where the protection is not fully shored up and could then cover roadways and enter basements and lower levels of homes. Frankfort Mayor Layne Wilkerson ordered a curfew for overnight Sunday into Monday, calling it “a necessary measure to ensure public safety, prevent looting and vandalism, and allow our first responders and recovery teams to operate efficiently.” Emergency crews worked Sunday night to contain a large spill of motor oil and diesel fuel at a trucking garage outside Butler, CNN affiliate WKRC reported.
Pendleton Emergency Management spokesman Rob Braun said the spill, caused by high water, was located near Northern Elementary. Residents of Butler and Falmouth were ordered to evacuate Saturday – anyone who stayed behind was warned their utilities could go out, and water rescuers might not be able to reach them if needed, according to CNN affiliate WCPO . Several Falmouth residents came to the aid of an older neighbor to help her move belongings out of her home.
“Most of the people here (don’t) know the homeowner,” one of the residents told WCPO. “They just seen us back up here with the trailer and they just stop and say ‘can we help.’” Water rescues were carried out Sunday near Colesburg, about 30 miles south of Louisville, the county sheriff reported, as waters rose rapidly in the Rolling Fork River.
Drone footage of nearby New Haven shows the aftermath of the river bursting its banks, flooding properties on the town’s main street with brown water. As the road leads out of town, it takes on the appearance of a causeway, fields hidden under vast quantities of water. Farther east, footage from Wilmore shows a line of homes fully surrounded by water – some with the water right up to their rooflines.
Red inflatable boats drive around the neighborhood on waterways above what presumably had been yards and streets. Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear declared a state of emergency last week and urged “everyone statewide to take this seriously.
” The Kentucky Supreme Court, Court of Appeals, the Administrative Office of the Courts in Frankfort, and Hardin County courts will be closed on Monday. The Franklin County courts will be closed all week. Farther south, the Ohio River, which runs through Louisville, Kentucky, rose more than 5 feet in 24 hours and is expected to rise significantly higher over the next few days, Mayor Craig Greenberg said Saturday.
Flooding also plagued parts of Ohio. Emergency crews rescued a woman without a home who woke up surrounded by water in downtown Cincinnati early Sunday, according to CNN affilate WKRC . Later that day, another rescue had to be made after a driver ignored road closure signs by a former amusement park in the city.
The driver was not injured but had to be rescued from their almost completely submerged vehicle, police told CNN affiliate WLWT . CNN reached out to the Cincinnati Police Department for comment. CNN’s Karina Tsui, Susannah Cullinane, Jacob Lev and meteorologist Gene Norman contributed to this report.
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