As communities in the central US grapple with widespread devastation from a line of deadly storms that spawned dozens of tornadoes this week, more grave threats to the region are underway: additional severe thunderstorms and relentless rain with the potential to trigger “generational” flooding into the weekend.
At least eight people have been killed across Tennessee, Missouri, Indiana and Kentucky during extreme weather this week. The most recent death occurred Friday morning, when a boy was swept away by floodwaters while walking to his school bus stop in Frankfort, Kentucky, police said.
He was identified as 9-year-old Gabriel Andrews, the Franklin County Coroner’s Gabriel’s body was found about half a mile from where he was reportedly swept away, Coroner William C. Harrod said. It took first responders more than two hours to find his body, police said.
The Mississippi Valley, including parts of Arkansas, Missouri, Tennessee and Mississippi, is in the midst of a three-day stretch of a level 4 of 4 high risk of flooding rain – an occurrence almost unheard-of outside hurricane season. The prolonged extreme flood threat adds another level of danger and misery for anyone picking up the pieces from extensive storm damage.
About 260 flood warnings spanned at least 15 states Friday evening and those numbers will likely climb into the weekend.
Around 4 million people are under flash flood warnings across five states that stretch from Texas to Kentucky.
On Friday afternoon, severe storms fired up in northeastern Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas that led to multiple tornado warnings and some observed tornadoes, forcing people to take shelter.
Damage was reported in northeast Texas following a series of tornadoes. In Wood County, one person was injured and at least one house was damaged by toppled trees, according to county emergency officials.
Flash flooding fueled by intense rainfall forced water rescues in Missouri and Kentucky Friday afternoon. There were 15 water rescues in Van Buren, Missouri, alone after 3 inches of rain fell.
Residents in Louisville, Kentucky, were asked to temporarily reduce their water use for appliances like washing machines and dishwashers as the sanitary sewer system hit capacity.
“There’s been a lot of damage, there’s been a lot of tornadoes, there’s been loss of life and real devastation across the state, but this storm is going to continue,” Lee said on Thursday.
At least five deaths had been reported in the state, according to Patrick Sheehan, director of the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency. And there were more than 2,200 customers without power in the state Friday evening, according to PowerOutage.us.
At one point Thursday, tornado sirens in Nashville were sounding so frequently, their batteries drained and they fell silent, remaining inoperable until power was restored, city emergency officials said, encouraging residents to have multiple ways to receive weather alerts, including local news, weather apps and weather radios.
“I got a tornado warning alert on my phone and came home as soon as I could from work,” Gerke told KOMU. When he arrived, he found the roof of his childhood home ripped off, the garage obliterated, and several destroyed cars.
In Nevada, Missouri, the storm left widespread damage, including at Nevada Oaks, a former motel now serving as student housing for the Missouri Welding Institute, a trade school specializing in welding and metal fabrication. The family-owned property, which houses approximately 50 students, sustained significant damage,
“This is our heart and soul,” Shari Snyder, who operates Nevada Oaks, told KSHB. “We love this place, my dad put everything into this place, and the students loved it here.” While no students were injured in the storm, the tornado shattered windows and destroyed several cars in the parking lot, the affiliate reported.
Damage survey teams from the National Weather Service have given preliminary ratings to at least 31 tornadoes in eight states since the outbreak began Wednesday.
So far, they have found three tornadoes of at least EF3 strength in Missouri, Tennessee and Arkansas. Additional surveys could take days to complete and some have been held up by the continuing hazardous weather.
