Rivers in Central U.S. Swell Rapidly as Storm Inundates Region
Rivers were rising rapidly across much of the Midwest and South on Saturday, prompting water rescues and road closures as a relentless storm continued to dump rain across the country.
The increased flooding, which was happening from Texas to Ohio, came after days of heavy rains and tornadoes that killed at least nine people, including a Missouri firefighter who died while responding to a water rescue call on Friday. Forecasters warned that the floods might continue well into next week, with rivers not expected to crest in some places until Tuesday or Wednesday.
Emergency workers reported overnight water rescues in Texarkana, Texas; Izard County, Ark.; and several places in southern Missouri, including around Cape Girardeau.
“We’ve got flooded streets everywhere — and lots more rain on the way,” the Texarkana police posted on Facebook.
On Friday, the local sheriff in Izard County, in northern Arkansas, was traveling to rescue a family when he crashed his truck on a washed-out road. The sheriff was not injured, but photos showed his truck partially submerged.
“All county roads will have major damage like this for the coming days that can be hidden by the water,” the department warned, adding that people should stay home if possible.
The storm has killed people across four states, including a 9-year-old boy who was swept away by floodwaters in Frankfort, Ky., and Chevy Gall, a firefighter with the Beaufort-Leslie Fire Protection District in Missouri, who died in a crash while driving to help rescue people from the floods. “Tonight is a fire chief’s worst nightmare,” the department’s leader said in a statement.
The heaviest rain so far, which has caused dangerous flooding, mostly fell in Arkansas and southern Missouri.
Wet weather is expected from East Texas to New York on Saturday, with the heaviest rains in Arkansas, the Missouri Bootheel, western Kentucky and Tennessee.
That region has already had days of rain, with some areas recording up to nine inches, well above what many of these places usually receive in the entire month of April. Federal data showed rivers rising rapidly throughout much of the region.
The Black River near Poplar Bluff, Mo., surged from four feet to a flood stage of nearly 17 feet overnight. The river is expected to continue rising there through Saturday, with an evening crest expected just below record levels.
Elsewhere, water levels were increasing quickly on the Kaskaskia River in Illinois, the Mississippi River along the Missouri-Kentucky border and the Ohio River along the Illinois-Kentucky border. Many highways have closed in Indiana and Ohio, though some rivers there are not expected to reach peak levels for several more days.
The ground is saturated and can no longer absorb the rain, which means it “has nowhere to go and it runs off and creates more flooding,” said Frank Pereira, a meteorologist at the Weather Prediction Center.
On Saturday morning, Mr. Pereira said that storms were developing and moving across eastern Oklahoma, northeast Texas, Arkansas and western Tennessee. Some of these areas could see several more inches of rain, he said.
The storms could also generate damaging winds, unleash large hail and spawn tornadoes. The area at risk for severe thunderstorms stretches from the Sabine River Valley northeast into the Mississippi and Ohio Valleys.
“Folks are going to have the potential for really all modes of severe weather, from tornadoes to damaging straight-line winds, up to large hail,” said Scott Unger, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Nashville. At times, the hail could be as large as golf balls, he said, with severe weather potentially lasting well into Saturday night.
The National Weather Service also warned of life-threatening flash flooding across the region and urged people to turn around if they came across washed-out roads, adding that most flood deaths occur in vehicles.
Cities across the storm’s path, which include Little Rock, Ark.; Jackson, Miss.; and Memphis, are bracing for the worst. Mayor Craig Greenberg of Louisville, Ky., said in a news release that he expected the Ohio River to rise about 30 feet. Officials in St. Louis County, Mo., said that part of Interstate 44 would most likely be underwater by Sunday. Officials in Paducah, Ky., said they were installing floodgates and getting more pump stations.
In Louisville, Ky., the region’s sewage utility said the sewer system had reached capacity because of heavy rain, and asked customers to refrain from running washing machines and dishwashers.
While the looming rains were worrisome, people in affected areas were contending with the damage that had already been done. On Friday, Sydney Metz, a Nashville resident and a graduate student at Vanderbilt University, was mostly concerned about how to get to her classes and her part-time job next week, because her car was waterlogged and wouldn’t start.
“Our yard completely flooded,” she said on Friday. “Just a whole rushing river.”
In New Madrid, Mo., Mayor Nick White said on Friday that the weekend storm could bring one of the most severe floods in the history of the city, which lies on the Mississippi River. He was preparing the city for a substantial rise in the river.
“We’ve got backup generators, we’ve got a backup pump,” Mr. White said, adding, “We’ve been really proactive versus reactive.”
The stormy weather is expected to shift east on Sunday, giving the central United States a break. While there’s a chance for rain along the East Coast, the heaviest rains are expected in the southeast from the Gulf Coast to the Southern Appalachians. The flood risk is not as high as it was in the central United States on Friday and Saturday.
Jamie McGee, Carly Gist, Isabelle Taft and Jonathan Wolfe contributed reporting.
