Swollen rivers flood towns in southern US after prolonged deluge
Inundated rivers posed the latest threat from a series of persistent storms that have killed at least 20 people since last week.
Days of unrelenting downpours swelled rivers to near record levels across Kentucky on Monday, submerging neighbourhoods and threatening a famous bourbon distillery in the state capital.
Inundated rivers posed the latest threat from a series of persistent storms that have killed at least 20 people – 10 in Tennessee – since last week as they doused the region with heavy rain and spawned destructive tornadoes.
Though the storms have finally moved on, the flood danger also remains high in several other states, including parts of Tennessee, Arkansas and Indiana.
Cities ordered evacuations and rescue crews in inflatable boats checked on residents in Kentucky and Tennessee, while utilities shut off power and gas in a region stretching from Texas to Ohio.
Floodwaters forced the closure of the historic Buffalo Trace Distillery, close to the banks of the swollen Kentucky River near Frankfort.
“I think everybody was shocked at how quick (the river) actually did come up,” said salon owner Jessica Tuggle.
“Everybody was just, ‘stop raining, stop raining’, so we could get an idea of what the worst situation would be,” she said.
Officials diverted traffic and turned off utilities to businesses in the city as the river was expected to approach a record crest on Monday.
More than 500 state roads across Kentucky were still closed on Monday morning, governor Andy Beshear said.
Twenty deaths have been reported since the storms began Wednesday. A nine-year-old boy in Kentucky was caught up in floodwaters while walking to catch his school bus and a five-year-old boy in Arkansas died after a tree fell on his family’s home, police said.
A 16-year-old volunteer Missouri firefighter died in a crash while seeking to rescue people caught in the storm.
Two men sitting in a golf cart were killed when a tree fell on them at a golf course in Columbus, Georgia, according to Muscogee County Coroner Buddy Bryan.
The National Weather Service warned that dozens of locations in multiple states were expected to reach a “major flood stage”, with extensive flooding of structures, roads, bridges and other critical infrastructure possible.
Mr Beshear said more than 1,000 people had no access to water and nearly 3,000 were under boil water advisories. He said at least 20 water systems were affected.
The City of Harrodsburg, Kentucky, said on social media that its water system had to discontinue pumping around midnight because of flood levels on the Kentucky River. Bottled water was being handed out Monday.
The post said officials from Harrodsburg and Mercer County and leaders from factories, hospitals and schools had been discussing how to minimise water use in the community about 30 miles (48km) south of Frankfort.
More than 100 structures were destroyed in McNairy County, Tennessee, where a tornado tore through the town of Selmer with winds estimated up to 160mph (257kph), local emergency management officials said.
State officials say severe weather killed five people in the county of roughly 26,100 residents.
The storms come after the Trump administration cut jobs at NWS forecast offices, leaving half of them with vacancy rates of about 20%, or double the level of a decade ago.
Forecasters attributed the violent weather to warm temperatures, an unstable atmosphere, strong winds and abundant moisture streaming from the Gulf.
The NWS said nearly 13cm of rain fell on Saturday in Jonesboro, Arkansas — making it the wettest day ever recorded in April in the city. Memphis, Tennessee, received 35cm of rain from Wednesday to Sunday, the NWS said.
