The devastating storms that tore through the Midwest since Wednesday have officially taken the lives of 18 Americans, including at least two children, as the East Coast braces for impact.
Among the fatalities were a boy, 5, found in a storm-battered home in Arkansas; a nine-year-old boy named Gabriel Andrews who was swept away by floodwaters while walking to his bus stop in Kentucky; and a 74-year-old who was found dead in a fully-submerged vehicle in Nelson County, according to CNN.
A 16-year-old volunteer firefighter in Missouri also died in a crash while seeking to rescue people caught in the storm, and in Tennessee, a Carroll County Electric Department lineman died on the job.
The state has reported the most deaths from the wild weather that battered the state and left towns fully flooded, with 10 storm-related deaths.
Half of those were in McNairy County, where an EF3 tornado on Thursday damaged 332 buildings, leveling 108, the Emergency Management Agency announced on social media.
But the deluge isn’t yet over, as rivers continue to rise and torrential rains persisted across the South and Midwest, threatening the already waterlogged communities with ‘moderate to major’ flooding, according to the National Weather Service.
Nearly 22 million people are now at risk of severe storms, as the system moves east.
John Clayton, 56, carries his cat in a kayak as the Kentucky River begins to flood his house on Sunday
Excessive rainfall flooded parts of Casey County, Kentucky
Structural damage is visible at Christ Community Church after a tornado struck on Thursday in Paducah, Kentucky
Storm-damaged homes and broken trees are seen Thursday in Selmer, Tennessee
The highest-risk zone for wild weather now extends from northern Georgia to eastern Louisiana, and includes cities like Atlanta, Birmingham, Mobile and New Orleans.
A tornado watch is also in effect for southern and eastern Alabama, the Florida Panhandle and western and northern Georgia – affecting 8 million people.
If any tornadoes did form on Sunday, it would mark the eleventh consecutive day with twisters reported somewhere in the country, according to CNN.
There were four tornadoes reported on Saturday, along with 87 reports of severe weather, 78 reports of high wind and five reports of hail.
Over a foot of rain has now fallen across the mid-South since Wednesday, setting over a dozen daily rainfall records in Arkansas and Tennessee.
As a result of the deluge, more than 118,500 people remained without power across the Midwest as of Sunday evening, according to PowerOutage.us, a website that tracks outage reports.
At the same time, there were 898 delays and 29 flight cancelations, following 523 domestic and international flights canceled within the U.S. and more than 6,900 delayed on Saturday, per FlightAware.
Major highways were also left impassible in Kentucky and Tennessee due to the rising water levels, including sections of Interstate-40 in Memphis and Interstate-69 in Kentucky.
The National Weather Service is now urging drivers to ‘turn around’ if they encounter flooded roadways, and the Nelson County Sheriff’s Office in Kentucky declared: ‘Turn around, don’t drown is more than saying it’s the difference between life and death,’ Wide Open Country reports.
Thomas Fenwick, 42, and Jo Rodriguez, 33, embrace as their neighborhood floods on Sunday in Frankfort, Kentucky
Meanwhile, utility companies from Texas through Ohio scrambled to shut off power and gas, while cities closed roads and deployed sandbags to protect homes and businesses.
In Frankfort, Kentucky, rescue crews checking up on residents in the state capital had to traverse inundated streets in inflatable boats.
‘As long as I´ve been alive – and I´m 52 – this is the worst I´ve ever seen it,’ said Wendy Quire, the general manager at the Brown Barrel restaurant in downtown Frankfort.
As the swollen Kentucky River kept rising on Sunday, officials diverted traffic and turned off utilities to businesses in the city built around it, Quire said.
‘The rain just won´t stop. It´s been nonstop for days and days,’ she said.
For many, as the rain kept falling, there was a sense of dread that the worst was still to come.
‘This flooding is an act of God,’ said Kevin Gordon, a front desk clerk at the Ashbrook Hotel in downtown Frankfort. The hotel was still open Sunday and offering discounted stays to affected locals, but Gordon said the hotel could eventually be forced to closed.
A storm-damaged home is seen on Thursday in Selmer, Tennessee
Structural damage is visible at Christ Community Church after a tornado struck on Thursday
State officials have since ordered evacuations in parts of the state, including in Montgomery County, where the Kentucky River is forecast to crest at 47 feet – high enough to cause near record flooding, according to the New York Times.
Flood warnings also remain in effect in Tennessee and Alabama.
The National Weather Service has even warned on Sunday 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.
It said on Sunday there is still some threat for heavy rainfall and flash flooding for portions of the Southeast and the Gulf Coast region going through this evening and overnight.’
Communities in areas affected by flooding ‘should prepare for possible long duration and severe disruptions to daily life,’ with 10 to 15 inches of rain expected over the weekend.
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