Severe thunderstorms and heavy rain are triggering catastrophic flooding across the middle of the US, as areas already hit hard by a recent string of storms and tornadoes remain in the path of this current system. The storms have killed at least 16 people across Tennessee, Missouri, Indiana, Arkansas and Kentucky since Wednesday. In Franklin County, Kentucky, a 9-year-old boy was swept away by floodwaters while walking to his school bus stop, police said. And in Little Rock, Arkansas, a 5-year-old was killed at a home battered by severe weather. Very heavy showers and thunderstorms will continue to move repeatedly over portions of central and eastern Arkansas and western Tennessee over the next few hours. The high rainfall rates from these storms will lead to life-threatening and locally catastrophic flash flooding.
The storms have already prompted tens of thousands of power outages across the region and delays for more than 6,000 flights within, into or out of the US for a few days. 36 million people were under flood watches and ongoing rain prompted over two dozen flash flood warnings from northeast Texas to southern Illinois. The possibility of “generational” flooding that the National Weather Service warned about stems from a stagnation in the current weather pattern that’s caused the string of storms to repeatedly hit the same areas in the central and southern US.
Storm threats will remain in effect for Florida Panhandle, Alabama and Georgia on, while the flood threat for Arkansas, Tennessee and Kentucky should lessen. Authorities in West Plains in southern Missouri carried out as many as a half a dozen water rescue. At least half a dozen different fire departments were assisting in the rescues as part of a task force to help the inundated city. A woman in West Plains was taken to the hospital after being struck by lightning, citing the city’s emergency manager. The Missouri State Highway Patrol urged residents to stay off the roads, warning that “darkness hides dangers like water-covered paths, leading to fatal situations.” The highway patrol statement noted troopers were already “busy rescuing stranded motorists who underestimate the risks.”
Areas from far northeastern Texas to Kentucky are expected to feel the greatest impact from the floods. More than a foot of rain falling in a matter of days on areas in Arkansas to Kentucky could bring historic, once-in-a-generation flooding, forecasters warn.
In northern Arkansas, the city of Hardy experienced significant flooding overnight, as the Spring River reaches historic water levels. So far, at least 12 people have been injured across the state, the Arkansas Division of Emergency Management said.
In Mammoth Spring, Arkansas, a train was stopped on a bridge due to multiple active weather warnings in the area, when heavy flood waters washed out the bridge and derailed multiple cars, according to BNSF Railway. BNSF personnel were on site coordinating with Mammoth Spring State Park to clear the incident and repair the bridge. These storms are causing significant damage and are spreading throughout the US rapidly, causing tornadoes and floods to disperse across the nation
