LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — At least nine people have died in the most recent round of harsh weather to pummel the U.S., including eight people in Kentucky who died as creeks swelled from heavy rain and water covered roads.
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said Sunday that hundreds of people stranded by flooding had to be rescued. President Donald Trump approved the state's request for a disaster declaration, authorizing the Federal Emergency Management Agency to coordinate relief efforts throughout the state.
Beshear said most of the deaths, including a mother and 7-year-old child, were caused by cars getting stuck in high water.
“So folks, stay off the roads right now and stay alive,” he said. “This is the search and rescue phase, and I am very proud of all the Kentuckians that are out there responding, putting their lives on the line.”
Beshear said there have been 1,000 rescues across the state since the storms began Saturday. The storms knocked out power to about 39,000 homes, but Beshear warned that harsh winds in some areas could increase outages.
Parts of Kentucky and Tennessee received up to 6 inches (15 centimeters) of rain, said Bob Oravec, a senior forecaster with the National Weather Service.
“The effects will continue for awhile, a lot of swollen streams and a lot of flooding going on,” Oravec said Sunday. “Any time there’s flooding, the flooding can last a lot longer than the rain lasts.”
A levee failed in the small community of Rivas, Tennessee, Saturday afternoon, flooding nearby neighborhoods and spurring rescue efforts by fire officials in west Tennessee. How the levee in Obion County became damaged and the number of people affected was unclear. A flash flood warning was issued by the National Weather Service just hours prior to the failure.
Rivas is 110 miles (177 kilometers) miles north of Memphis and is home to less than 300 people.
In Atlanta, a person was killed when a large tree fell on a home early Sunday, according to Atlanta Fire Rescue Capt. Scott Powell.
Elsewhere, bone-chilling cold is expected for the Northern Plains with low temperatures into the minus 30s F near the Canadian border. Dangerously cold wind chill temperatures in the Dakotas and Minnesota of minus 40 Fahrenheit (minus 40 Celsius) to minus 50 F (minus 45.6 C) are expected.
Kentucky faces severe flooding
Water submerged cars and buildings in Kentucky and mudslides blocked roads in Virginia late Saturday into Sunday. Both states were under flood warnings, along with Tennessee and Arkansas.
The mother and child were swept away Saturday night in Kentucky's Bonnieville community, Hart County Coroner Tony Roberts said. In southeastern Kentucky, a 73-year-old man was found dead in floodwaters in Clay County, county Emergency Management Deputy Director Revelle Berry said. There were a total of four deaths in Hart County, Beshear said.
The Kentucky River Medical Center in the city of Jackson said it had closed its emergency department and transferred all patients to two other hospitals in the region due to a nearby river flooding.
Photos posted by authorities and residents on social media showed cars and buildings underwater in south-central and eastern Kentucky. In Buchanan County, Virginia, the sheriff’s office said multiple roads were blocked by mudslides.
The Simpson County Office of Emergency Management in Kentucky said authorities performed several rescues from stalled-out vehicles in floodwaters.
“Stay home if you can,” the office said on Facebook.
In West Virginia, 13 southern counties were under a state of emergency for flooding and some areas were cut off to vehicle traffic Sunday. Several volunteer fire departments dealt with flooding in their own buildings while answering rescue and evacuation calls.
Midwest, Northeast hit with snow storms, Polar Vortex on the way
Ice and snow made road travel treacherous in large swaths of Michigan, which remained under a winter weather advisory until Monday afternoon. Michigan State Police reported 114 crashes Sunday around the Detroit area since snow started falling Saturday.
“Fortunately, most were one-car spin outs and there were no serious injuries,” Michigan State Police said on X. “A majority of them were caused by drivers just going too fast or following too close.”
Wind chills as low as 50 degrees below zero Fahrenheit were expected in most of North Dakota, which remained under an “extreme cold warning” along with large swaths of South Dakota and Minnesota, according to the National Weather Service.
Mark Framness, who lives in northeast Wisconsin, said it seems he’s needed to use the snow blower every few days this winter and recently put snow tires on his truck for the first time. The 58-year-old avid skier says it’s been fantastic for the slopes.
But with temperatures expected to dip to 4 degrees Fahrenheit below zero on Sunday and dangerous wind chills he’s adjusting his plans. He’s scrapped an outing with friends and is instead donning thick socks and sweaters around the house.
“I’m just going to stay inside,” he said.
Meteorologists said the U.S. was about to get its 10th and coldest polar vortex stretching event this season, with the northern Rockies and northern Plains first in line. Weather forces in the Arctic are combining to push the chilly air that usually stays near the North Pole into the U.S. and Europe.
The National Weather Service warned of “life-threatening cold” in the northern Plains, with temperatures dropping to minus 30 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 34 Celsius) or lower on Monday and Tuesday mornings.
Avalanche warnings were issued for numerous areas of the Rocky Mountains stretching from Colorado to Washington state, with the danger rated highest in Utah.
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Sophia Tareen in Chicago, Nadia Lathan in Austin, Texas, John Raby in Cross Lanes, West Virginia and Matthew Brown in Billings, Montana contributed to this report.
Dylan Lovan, The Associated Press
