After bout of tornadoes, US confronted with deluge as towns get submerged
Frankfort: Days of unrelenting downpours swelled rivers to near record levels across Kentucky on Monday, submerging neighbourhoods and threatening a famed bourbon distillery in the state capital.
Inundated rivers posed the latest threat from persistent storms that have killed at least 23 people since last week as they doused the region with heavy rain and spawned destructive tornadoes.
At least 157 tornadoes struck within seven days beginning March 30, according to a preliminary report from the National Weather Service. Though the storms have finally moved on, the flood danger remains high in several other states, including parts of Tennessee, Arkansas and Indiana.
Cities ordered evacuations, and rescue crews in inflatable boats checked on residents in Kentucky and Tennessee, while utilities shut off power and gas in a region stretching from Texas to Ohio.
Floodwaters forced the closure of the historic Buffalo Trace Distillery, close to the banks of the swollen Kentucky River near downtown Frankfort. Salon owner Jessica Tuggle watched Monday as murky brown water approached her Frankfort business. She and her friends had moved her salon gear to a nearby taproom.
“Everybody was just, ‘Stop raining, stop raining,’ so we could get an idea of what the worst situation would be,” she said. Officials diverted traffic, turned off utilities to businesses and instituted a curfew in Frankfort as the river crested just short of a record Monday. More than 500 state roads across Kentucky were still closed Monday evening, Gov Andy Beshear said.
Ashley Welsh, her husband, four children and pets had to leave their Frankfort home along the river Saturday evening, abandoning a lifetime of belongings.
When she checked her house’s cameras Sunday morning, the floodwaters had risen to the second floor.
“My stuff was floating around in the living room,” Welsh said. “I was just heartbroken. Our life is up there.”
Devastating impact
Twenty-three deaths have been reported since the storms began Wednesday, including 10 in Tennessee. Among the four confirmed killed in Kentucky, a 9-year-old boy was caught up in floodwaters while walking to catch his school bus.
A 5-year-old boy in Arkansas died after a tree fell on his family’s home, police said. And a man was found dead in a submerged vehicle, the Arkansas Division of Emergency Management said.
A 16-year-old volunteer Missouri firefighter died in a crash while seeking to rescue people caught in the storm. While in Carroll County, Tennessee, an electric department lineman died while working in the storms, state emergency officials said. Two men sitting in a golf cart, a father and son, were killed when a tree fell on them at a golf course in Columbus, Georgia, Muscogee County Coroner Buddy Bryan said.
