Central US braces for generational flooding as repeated rounds of rain pummel several states
Potentially historic flooding is underway Thursday in the Mississippi and Ohio valleys, as repeated rounds of rain pummel several states in America’s heartland.More than a foot of rain could fall on the region by Sunday. This is the same part of the country that was devastated by a deadly tornado outbreak Wednesday. A stalled front draped over the central U.S.
will bring continuous rain and storms through the weekend, causing both a flood threat and a severe weather threat.The National Weather Service offices in Little Rock, Arkansas, and Paducah, Kentucky, have highlighted a particularly dangerous and life-threatening flash flooding situation.Parts of Tennessee and Kentucky have already been inundated ahead of the additional rain that is forecast.Hopkinsville, Kentucky, was flooded early Friday morning.City officials told FOX Weather that approximately 60% of the downtown was underwater, and a building had collapsed due to the heavy rain.
A woman had to be rescued from floodwaters in her home and another from a car.Hopkinsville City Councilwoman Brittanie Bogard told FOX Weather she hasn’t seen flooding this bad in the city before.Kentucky Gov.Andy Beshear issued a dire warning during his Thursday news conference.“It’s the decisions about when to get out, about what to drive through – when to go stay with someone else, that can be the difference between life and death over these next couple of days,” he said.More than 7 inches of rain fell earlier this week in western Tennessee, and flooding has been reported in Nashville.
In the early morning hours of Thursday, cars were seen stuck in floodwaters in South Nashville.The Nashville Fire Department performed more than a dozen water rescues Tuesday.Due to flooding, numerous roads in the metro area were closed.
By Thursday afternoon, creeks and rivers had already overflowed their banks in Memphis. Nashville and Memphis both recorded daily rain records on Thursday.Nashville more than doubled its...