Another round of torrential rain and flash flooding on Saturday hit parts of the US already heavily waterlogged by days of severe storms that also spawned deadly tornadoes.
Forecasters on Saturday warned that rivers in some places would continue to rise for days.
Days of heavy rains have pounded the central US, rapidly swelling waterways and prompting a series of flash flood emergencies from Texas to Ohio.
Photo: AP
The US National Weather Service (NWS) said dozens of locations in multiple states were expected to reach what it called “major flood stage,” with extensive flooding of structures, roads, bridges and other critical infrastructure possible.
At least 16 weather-related deaths have been reported since the start of the storms, including 10 in Tennessee.
A 57-year-old man died on Friday evening after getting out of a vehicle that washed off a road in West Plains, Missouri.
Flooding killed two people in Kentucky — a nine-year-old boy swept away that same day on his way to school, and a 74-year-old whose body was found on Saturday inside a fully submerged vehicle in Nelson County, authorities said.
Also on Saturday a five-year-old died at a home in Little Rock, Arkansas, in a weather-related incident, police said.
Tornadoes earlier in the week destroyed entire neighborhoods and were responsible for at least seven of the deaths.
Interstate commerce has also been affected.
The extreme flooding across a corridor that includes major cargo hubs in Louisville, Kentucky, and Memphis, Tennessee, could lead to shipping and supply chain delays, AccuWeather chief meteorologist Jonathan Porter said.
The rains arrived as nearly half of the NWS forecast offices have 20 percent vacancy rates after job cuts by US President Donald Trump’s administration — twice that of just a decade ago.
Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg on Saturday said that the Ohio River rose about 1.5m in 24 hours and would continue to swell for days.
“We expect this to be one of the top 10 flooding events in Louisville history,” he said.
In Dyersburg, Tennessee, dozens of people on Saturday arrived at a storm shelter near a public school in the rain, clutching blankets, pillows and other necessities.
Among them was George Manns, 77, who said he was in his apartment when he heard a tornado warning and headedx to the shelter.
Just days earlier the city was hit by a tornado that caused millions of dollars in damage.
“I grabbed all my stuff and came here,” said Mann, who brought a folding chair, two bags of toiletries, laptops, iPads and medications.
“I don’t leave them in my apartment in case my apartment is destroyed. I have to make sure I have them with me,” he said.
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