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.
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 started on Saturday. The storms knocked out power to about 39,000 homes, but Beshear warned that harsh winds in some areas could increase outages.
Much of the U.S. beyond Kentucky faced another round of biting winter weather. The Northern Plains faced life-threatening cold, and snowstorms hit the Midwest and Northeast.
Parts of Kentucky and Tennessee received up to 6 inches (15 centimeters) of rain during the weekend storms, 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 from 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. He told reporters that firefighters were dispatched just before 5 a.m. after a 911 call.
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 of the states were under flood warnings, along with Tennessee and Arkansas. The National Weather Service warned residents to stay off the roads.
Gov. Beshear said state police had answered more than 1,800 calls for service since Saturday morning as rains began to pound the state. Chilly temperatures replaced the heavy rains with snow early Sunday in parts of Kentucky.
The mother and child were swept away Saturday night in the 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 was transferring all patients to two other hospitals in the region due to a nearby river flooding. The hospital said it would re-evaluate conditions, but no update was available Sunday afternoon.
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.
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 the snow started falling early 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 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 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 (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.
More than two feet of snow had fallen by Sunday morning in parts of Colorado. In Denver, where temperatures were expected to dip as low as 14 degrees (minus 10 degrees Celsius), the city opened shelters for people living on the streets.
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Sophia Tareen in Chicago, Nadia Lathan in Texas and Matthew Brown in Montana contributed to this report.
