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Boston Globe
04-04-2025
- Climate
- Boston Globe
South and Midwest face potentially catastrophic rains and floods while reeling from tornadoes
Advertisement 'The main arteries through Hopkinsville are probably 2 feet under water,' said Christian County Judge-Executive Jerry Gilliam. 'So the mayor has closed downtown down for all traffic. Our office is actually in the middle of it and we were here before the water rose. So there's only one way we could get out.' Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Gov. Andy Beshear implored residents to take the threat of rising water seriously. 'Especially when we have this much rain, it's the decisions about when to get out, about what to drive through, when to go stay with someone else that can be the difference between life and death,' Beshear said Thursday. The National Weather Service's Oklahoma-based Storm Prediction Center warned of a moderate risk of severe thunderstorms Friday along a corridor from northeast Texas through Arkansas and into southeast Missouri. That area, which has a population of about 2.3 million, could see clusters of severe thunderstorms in the late afternoon and evening, with the potential for some storms to produce strong to intense tornadoes and very large hail. Advertisement Those killed in the initial wave of storms that spawned powerful tornadoes on Wednesday and early Thursday were in Tennessee, Missouri and Indiana. They included a Tennessee man and his teen daughter whose home was destroyed, and a man whose pickup struck downed power lines in Indiana. In Missouri, Garry Moore, who was chief of the Whitewater Fire Protection District, died while likely trying to help a stranded motorist, according to Highway Patrol spokesperson Sgt. Clark Parrott. Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee said entire neighborhoods in the hard-hit town of Selmer were 'completely wiped out' and said it was too early to know whether there were more deaths as searches continued. He warned people across the state to stay vigilant with more severe weather predicted. With flattened homes behind him, Dakota Woods described seeing the twister come through Selmer. 'I was walking down the street,' Woods said Thursday. 'Next thing you know, I look up, the sky is getting black and blacker, and it's lighting up green lights, and it's making a formation of a twister or tornado.' Flash flood threat looms over many states By late Thursday, extremely heavy rain was falling in parts of southeastern Missouri and western Kentucky. Heavy rains were expected to continue there and in other parts of the region in the coming days and could produce dangerous flash floods capable of sweeping away cars. The potent storm system will bring 'significant, life-threatening flash flooding' each day, the National Weather Service said. Advertisement Five to 8 inches of rain (12.7 centimeters to 20 centimeters) had fallen by Thursday morning in Hopkinsville, causing the Little River to surge over its banks and flood downtown. A pet boarding business was under water, forcing rescuers to move dozens of dogs to a local animal shelter, said Gilliam, the county executive. On Friday morning, crews had already rescued people from four or five vehicles and multiple homes, mostly by boat to evacuate people, said Randy Graham, the emergency management director in Christian County. 'This is the worst I've ever seen downtown,' Gilliam said. Rain totals approached nearly 9 inches elsewhere in Christian County, the weather service said. Another 4 to 8 inches of rain could fall later Friday and Saturday. Kentucky's road conditions website showed scores of state roads closed by high water on Friday morning. A landslide closed a nearly 3-mile (4.8-kilometer) stretch of Mary Ingles Highway in northern Kentucky early Friday, according to the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet. A landslide closed the same section of road in 2019 and it reopened last year, WLWT-TV reports. The Transportation Cabinet's District 3 in southern Kentucky warned Friday morning that road conditions can change rapidly, and with more rain coming, more roads were expected to flood in the coming hours and days. Water rescue teams and sandbagging operations were being staged across the region, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency was ready to distribute food, water, cots and generators. Western Kentucky prepared for record rain and flooding in places that normally do not get inundated, the governor said. At least 25 state highways were swamped, mostly in the west, according to a statement from his office Thursday. Advertisement Flash flooding is particularly worrisome in rural Kentucky where water can rush off the mountains into the hollows. Less than four years ago, dozens died in flooding across eastern Kentucky. Extreme flooding across the corridor that includes Louisville, Kentucky, and Memphis, which have major cargo hubs, could also lead to shipping and supply chain delays, said Jonathan Porter, chief meteorologist at AccuWeather. Forecasters attributed the violent weather to warm temperatures, an unstable atmosphere, strong wind shear and abundant moisture streaming from the Gulf. Tornadoes leave path of damage, and more could be coming Homes were ripped to their foundations in Selmer, Tennessee, which was hit by a tornado with winds estimated up to 160 mph (257 kph), according to the weather service. Tennessee Highway Patrol video showed lightning illuminating the sky as first responders scoured the ruins of a home, looking for anyone trapped. In neighboring Arkansas, a tornado near Blytheville lofted debris at least 25,000 feet (7.6 kilometers) high, according to weather service meteorologist Chelly Amin. The state's emergency management office reported damage in 22 counties from tornadoes, wind, hail and flash flooding. The home where Danny Qualls spent his childhood but no longer lives was flattened by a tornado in northeast Arkansas. 'My husband has been extremely tearful and emotional, but he also knows that we have to do the work,' Rhonda Qualls said. 'He was in shock last night, cried himself to sleep.' Workers on bulldozers cleared rubble along the highway that crosses through Lake City, where a tornado with winds of 150 mph (241 kph) sheared roofs off homes, collapsed brick walls and tossed cars into trees. Mississippi's governor said at least 60 homes were damaged. And in far western Kentucky, four people were injured while taking shelter in a vehicle under a church carport, according to the emergency management office in Ballard County. Advertisement
Yahoo
04-04-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Missouri community mourns loss of fire chief amid tornado outbreak
DELTA, Mo. – Residents in a small Missouri town are dealing with heartbreak on multiple levels after a tornado struck their town Wednesday and their beloved fire chief passed away. The tornado touched down in Whitewater just before 7 p.m. as part of a widespread and deadly tornado outbreak that swept across America's Heartland Wednesday. Shortly thereafter, first responders with the Whitewater Fire Protection District were called to nearby Delta, Missouri to help with search and rescue efforts in the wake of the tornado, Whitewater Fire Protection District officials said in a Facebook post. As crews headed to the scene, Fire Chief Garry Moore observed a vehicle off to the side of the road and stopped to assess any damage, and provide aid if needed. Shortly later, Chief Moore was found unconscious at the scene and was later pronounced dead. Why Is This Relentless Severe Weather Pattern Stuck Over The Eastern Half Of The Us? "It is with sadness that the Whitewater Fire Protection District announces the Line of Duty Death of Fire Chief Garry Moore," the district announced in a Facebook post. Officials still haven't given a cause of death and an investigation is underway. A National Weather Service storm survey team from Paducah, Kentucky later rated the tornado an EF-2 with estimated peak winds of 120 mph. It was one of at least seven tornadoes confirmed so far in Missouri on article source: Missouri community mourns loss of fire chief amid tornado outbreak
Yahoo
03-04-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
At least four dead as ‘once in a generation' storm lashes several states
Deadly tornadoes and severe storms tore across the Central U.S. Wednesday, resulting in the deaths of at least four people and knocking out power for more than 195,000 customers across seven states. Multiple deaths in Tennessee and Missouri were reported, including a father and daughter whose house was damaged near Moscow in Tennessee's Fayette County, the Fayette County Sheriff's Office told FOX 13. The station reported that several others in the home were injured, and that other deaths had been confirmed in the hard-hit McNairy and Hardeman counties. In bordering Missouri, Whitewater Fire Protection District Chief Garry Moore died Wednesday night, according to KFVS. While details about how Moore died have not been confirmed, Missouri State Highway Patrol Sgt. Clark Parrott told the station that it was possible the 68-year-old was stopping to help a stranded driver. "Our thoughts and prayers go out (to) the Whitewater Fire Protection District as well as the family and friends of Fire Chief Garry Moore, as he made the ultimate sacrifice while serving during storms last night," the Perryville Fire Department wrote on social media. An Indiana man died after coming into contact with down power lines as storms moved through the area, police said, according to WTHR-TV. Injuries were also reported in Kentucky, where four people were injured while sheltering in a vehicle under a church carport, the state's emergency management office in Ballard County said. Two workers were injured Wednesday when the roof and a wall collapsed at a Sur La Table distribution center in Brownsburg, Indiana. 'It was just heavy debris that had fallen on top of her,' Brownsburg Fire Department spokesperson Kamrick Holding told WTHR-TV. 'She happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.' The woman was conscious and talking during the rescue, but her condition was not immediately known. Crews were working Thursday to search through the wreckage and assess the damage as the threat of tornadoes continued and shifted into Kentucky and West Virginia. Dozens of tornado and severe thunderstorm warnings were issued from Texas to West Virginia and about 2.5 million people were in a rarely called 'high-risk' zone. Storms have knocked out power for more than 195,000 customers in Texas, Arkansas, Missouri, Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana and Ohio, according to outage tracker Cameron Tate, the mayor of Lake City, Arkansas, stated on a Facebook post that residents were also without water. Several governors declared states of emergency ahead of impending impacts. The threat of flash flooding was expected to continue in Tennessee, where forecasters said as many as 15 inches of rain could fall through the weekend. 'We would say good morning, but last night was not good. Our hearts go out to all the communities who were affected and will awake to decimated towns and cities. Unfortunately, we are not done yet. More severe weather is in the forecast later today,' the National Weather Service's Memphis office wrote. Areas that have already felt the effects of intense downpours were expected to get hit again, leading to 'significant to extreme rainfall totals over increasingly saturated soils.' Tens of millions of people are anticipated to feel the effects of the 'generational flooding' event and associated storms, which have stretched from Texas to the northern border. Additional rounds in Texas, the Mississippi Valley and the Ohio Valley could even sweep cars away. 'A High Risk of Excessive Rainfall (level 4/4) is in effect Thursday from southwestern Kentucky into western Tennessee and northeastern Arkansas where the greatest threat for numerous instances of life-threatening flash flooding exists following heavy rainfall over the same areas Wednesday,' the National Weather Service said. With reporting from The Associated Press
