HOPKINSVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Torrential rains and flash flooding battered parts of the Midwest and South on Friday, killing a boy in Kentucky who was swept away as he walked to catch his school bus. Many communities were left reeling from tornadoes that destroyed entire neighborhoods and killed at least seven people earlier this week.
Round after round of heavy rains have pounded the central U.S. for days, and forecasters warned that it could persist through Saturday. Satellite imagery showed thunderstorms lined up like freight trains over communities in Arkansas, Tennessee and Kentucky, according to the national Weather Prediction Center in Maryland.
In Frankfort, Kentucky, a 9-year-old boy died in the morning after floodwaters swept him away while he was walking to a school bus stop, Gov. Andy Beshear said on social media. Officials said Gabriel Andrews' body was found about a half-mile from where he went missing.
The downtown area of Hopkinsville, Kentucky — a city of 31,000 residents 72 miles (116 kilometers) northwest of Nashville — was submerged. A dozen people and more than 40 pets had been rescued from homes as of the afternoon, a fire official said.
“The main arteries through Hopkinsville are probably 2 feet under water,” said Christian County Judge-Executive Jerry Gilliam said earlier.
Tony Kirves and some friends used sandbags and a vacuum to try to hold back rising waters that covered the basement and seeped into the ground floor of his photography business in Hopkinsville. Downtown was “like a lake,” he said.
“We’re holding ground,” he said. “We’re trying to maintain and keep it out the best we can."
A corridor from northeast Texas through Arkansas and into southeast Missouri, which has a population of about 2.3 million, could see clusters of severe thunderstorms late Friday. The National Weather Service’s Oklahoma-based Storm Prediction Center warned of the potential for intense tornadoes and large hail.
The seven people killed in the initial wave of storms that spawned powerful tornadoes on Wednesday and early Thursday were in Tennessee, Missouri and Indiana.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee said entire neighborhoods in the hard-hit town of Selmer were “completely wiped out” and it was too early to know whether there were more deaths as searches continued.
Flash flood threat looms over many states
Heavy rains were expected to continue in parts of Missouri, Kentucky and elsewhere in the coming days and could produce dangerous flash floods capable of sweeping away cars.
In Hopkinsville, 5 to 8 inches of rain (12.7 centimeters to 20 centimeters) had fallen by Friday morning, causing the Little River to surge over its banks.
A pet boarding business was under water, forcing rescuers to move dozens of dogs to a local animal shelter, said Gilliam, the county executive. Crews rescued people from four or five vehicles and multiple homes, mostly by boat, said Randy Graham, the emergency management director in Christian County.
“This is the worst I’ve ever seen downtown,” Gilliam said.
Hundreds of Kentucky roads were impassable because of floodwaters, downed trees or mud and rock slides, and the number of closures were likely to increase with more rain late Friday and Saturday, Beshear said.
A landslide blocked a nearly 3-mile (4.8-kilometer) stretch of Mary Ingles Highway in the state's north, according to the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet. A landslide closed the same section of road in 2019, and it reopened last year, WLWT-TV reported.
Flash flooding is particularly worrisome in rural Kentucky where water can rush off the mountains into the hollows. Less than four years ago, dozens died in flooding in the eastern part of the state.
Extreme flooding across a corridor that includes Louisville, Kentucky, and Memphis — which have major cargo hubs — could also lead to shipping and supply chain delays, said Jonathan Porter, chief meteorologist at AccuWeather.
Forecasters attributed the violent weather to warm temperatures, an unstable atmosphere, strong wind shear and abundant moisture streaming from the Gulf. At least 318 tornado warnings have been issued by the National Weather Service since this week’s outbreak began Wednesday.
The outburst comes at a time when nearly half of National Weather Service forecast offices have 20% vacancy rates after Trump administration job cuts — twice that of just a decade ago.
Tornadoes leave a path of damage, and more could be coming
Homes were ripped to their foundations this week in Selmer, which was hit by a tornado with winds estimated up to 160 mph (257 kph), according to the weather service. Advance warning of storms likely saved lives, as hundreds of people sheltered at a courthouse, the governor said.
In neighboring Arkansas, a tornado near Blytheville lofted debris at least 25,000 feet (7.6 kilometers) high, according to weather service meteorologist Chelly Amin. The state’s emergency management office reported damage in 22 counties from tornadoes, wind, hail and flash flooding.
Workers on bulldozers cleared rubble along the highway that crosses through Lake City, where a tornado with winds of 150 mph (241 kph) sheared roofs off homes, collapsed brick walls and tossed cars into trees.
Mississippi's governor said at least 60 homes were damaged. And in far western Kentucky, four people were injured while taking shelter in a vehicle under a church carport, according to the emergency management office in Ballard County.
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Schreiner reported from Shelbyville, Kentucky. Associated Press writers Andrew DeMillo in Little Rock, Arkansas, Jonathan Mattise in Nashville, Tennessee, Adrian Sainz in Memphis, Tennessee, Jeff Martin in Marietta, Georgia, and John Raby in Charleston, West Virginia, contributed.
George Walker Iv And Bruce Schreiner, The Associated Press
