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.
In Alabama, the weather service in Birmingham said it had confirmed an EF-1 tornado touched down overnight in Hale County. Storms there and elsewhere in the state destroyed or damaged a handful of mobile homes, downed trees and toppled power lines, but no injuries were immediately reported. Extensive damage to downtown roofs and buildings was reported in the northern city of Tuscumbia, with authorities asking people to avoid the area, according to WAFF-TV and other local media.
A state of emergency was declared for parts of Obion County, Tennessee, after a levee failed on Saturday, flooding the small community of Rives, home to around 300 people in the western part of the state. “There will be mandatory evacuations in effect for the residents in Rives due to the rising water, no electricity, and freezing temperatures creating a life-threatening situation,” Mayor Steve Carr said in a statement Sunday.
In Atlanta, a person was killed when a large tree fell on a home early Sunday, according to Atlanta Fire Rescue Capt. Scott Powell.
Dangerously cold wind chill temperatures as low as 50 degrees below zero (minus 45.6) 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.
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.
High winds brought down trees and power poles across Albermarle County, Virginia. The Charlottesville Police Department said Sunday on social media that officers’ response times could be delayed due to “an overwhelming number of weather-related calls for service.” Police urged residents to stay off the roads.
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.
Rockies, 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.”
Authorities in Colorado reported eight people were killed in fatal vehicle crashes since Valentine’s Day and warned drivers to be cautious as the weather made driving more difficult. The causes of the fatal crashes weren’t immediately known.
Also in Colorado, three state patrol cruisers that had pulled over along roadsides were struck by other vehicles, including one on Sunday where a trooper had stopped as officials prepared to close a road because of ice. In each case the troopers were out of their cruisers at the time and were uninjured.
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 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, Matthew Brown in Billings, Montana, and Christopher Weber in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
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