Rivers in Central U.S. Swell Rapidly as Storm Inundates Region
The New York Times
The rising water levels have prompted rescues and road closures. The storm, which has killed at least 16 people, doesn’t show signs of letting up.
Rivers rose rapidly across much of the Midwest and the South on Saturday, prompting water rescues, evacuation orders and road closures as a relentless storm dumped rain on the region.
The increased flooding, which was happening from Texas to Ohio, came after days of heavy rains and tornadoes that killed at least 16 people, including a 5-year-old in Arkansas and a Missouri firefighter. Forecasters warned that the floods might continue well into next week, with rivers not expected to crest in some places until Tuesday or Wednesday.
“We’ll be dealing with the river flooding the next couple days, even the next couple weeks in some places,” said Colby Pope, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Little Rock, Ark.
Emergency workers reported water rescues in Arkansas, Kentucky, Missouri and Texas. Officials in Kentucky issued evacuation orders for two small towns, Butler and Falmouth, along the Licking River, and for the city of Shelbyville, along the Big Blue and Little Blue Rivers. Residents along the Kentucky River have also been evacuated.
On Saturday, the storm battered northwestern Alabama, where a tornado touched down near the city of Florence, the National Weather Service said. And the agency issued flash flood emergencies for Memphis and the Little Rock area.
The storm has killed people across four states, including a 9-year-old boy who was swept away by floodwaters in Frankfort, Ky., and Chevy Gall, a firefighter with the Beaufort-Leslie Fire Protection District in Missouri, who died in a crash while driving to help rescue people from the floods. At least nine weather-related deaths have been reported in Tennessee.
