HOPKINSVILLE, Ky. — Another round of ground rain and flash floods came Saturday, with parts of the south and parts of the Midwest already heavily flooded by days of intense storms that have produced several deadly tornadoes.
After heavy rain, the round smacked the central US, swollen rapidly, prompting a series of flash flood emergency in Texas and Arkansas. The National Weather Service is expected to reach major flooding stages of 45 river locations in multiple states, and is expected to allow extensive flooding of structures, roads, bridges and other critical infrastructure.
At least seven people have been killed as a tornado destroyed the entire neighborhood, allowing more twisters at this weekend’s location. At least two floods have been killed in Kentucky. The 9-year-old was wiped out on his way to school on Friday, and the 74-year-old’s body was found Saturday in a fully submerged vehicle in Nelson County, authorities said.
Interstate commerce is also affected. Extreme flooding can occur in corridors that include major cargo hubs in Louisville, Kentucky and Memphis, which could lead to supply chain delays.
The explosion comes when almost half of the NWS’ forecast offices have a 20% vacancy rate after the Trump administration’s employment cuts.
Downtown Hopkinsville, Kentucky, reopened early Saturday and gave plenty of needed reprieves after floods from Little River receding, but there was more rainfall on Saturday and Sunday, Mayor James R. Knight Jr. said.
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Intensive rain from Wednesday transformed downtown 31,000 city into a lake on Friday before the weather zone shifted slightly.
“It rained a bit, but most of it went north of us,” Knight said Saturday. “Thank you for the goodness about it. It gave me a little break.”
Flash flood threats loom in many states
Flash flood emergency continued to be issued Saturday in Arkansas, Mississippi and Tennessee, with more rain falling on the mix and winds smashed. At least Tennessee weather officials predicted that the crescendo of bad weather risk would sink after Sunday.
“We can see the finish line!” NWS Nashville was posted on social media.
But the worst was expected in Hopkinsville on Saturday afternoons and evenings. There, a forecast of another 3-4 inches of rain had people fill more sandbags to curb another potential surge in floods, Christian County Jerry Gilliam said Saturday.
“I expect this water to come down soon and soon, and this water will come back,” he said. “It should rain three or four times throughout the day.”
Kentucky Gov. Andy Besher said hundreds of Kentucky roads have knocked down floods, mud, mud and rock slides that could no longer be overcome Friday, and the number of closures is likely to increase.
Flash floods are particularly bothering you in rural Kentucky. There, water can rush from the mountain into the hole. Less than four years later, dozens of people died in floods in the eastern part of the state.
In northern Kentucky, emergency operators ordered forced evacuation in Falmouth, a 2,000-person town of swelling licking rivers, as they summoned fears that rising water would damage floods. The warning resembled a catastrophic flood nearly 30 years before the river reached a record of 50 feet, resulting in five deaths and 1,000 homes being destroyed.
In Arkansas, weather officials appealed to the public to avoid all travel, except when absolutely necessary due to widespread flooding.
On Saturday, BNSF confirmed that the railway bridge in Mammoth Spring was washed away by floods that caused several vehicles to derail. No injuries were reported, but BNSF did not immediately estimate the bridge would be reopened.
“The size of flash floods occurring in parts of the state is devastating, the NWS warned.
Why is the weather so troublesome?
More than a foot of rain, or 30.5 centimeters, has fallen in parts of Kentucky since Wednesday, with eight inches (20 centimeters), forecasters said Saturday.
The predictors attributed it to intense temperatures, unstable atmospheres, strong wind shear and abundant water flow from the Gulf Coast.
At least two reports of tornadoes observed in Missouri and Arkansas have been confirmed Friday evening, according to the NWS. At least 25,000 feet (7.6 kilometres) of loft fragments have been raised near Briteville, Arkansas, according to Meteorologist Cherry Amin. The state emergency management office reported damage to 22 counties due to tornadoes, wind, h and flash floods.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee said the entire Selmer neighborhood in the town of Hardhit has been “completely wiped out” after being hit by a windy tornado estimated by NWs of up to 160 mph (257 kph). The storm’s advance warning likely saved lives as hundreds of people were evacuated in court, the governor said.
The Mississippi governor said at least 60 homes have been damaged. And four people were injured in western Kentucky while evacuating to vehicles under a church carport, according to the Ballard County Emergency Management Department.
George Walker IV and Bruce Schleiner
