Forecasters warned of potentially catastrophic weather, with round after round of heavy rains expected in the central U.S. through Saturday. Satellite imagery showed thunderstorms lined up like freight trains over communities in Arkansas, Tennessee and Kentucky, according to the national Weather Prediction Center in Maryland.
In Kentucky early Friday, a boy died after floodwaters swept him away while he was walking to a school bus stop in Frankfort, Gov. Andy Beshear said on social media.
The dousing inundated Kentucky highways, causing numerous road closures. A mudslide on a busy highway on the outskirts of Louisville caused a long traffic backup as crews worked to clear the road. The downtown area of Hopkinsville — a city of 31,000 residents 72 miles northwest of Nashville — was submerged. Water rescues were underway.
"The main arteries through Hopkinsville are probably two 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."
Tony Kirves and a group of friends used sandbags and a vacuum as they tried to hold back rising floodwaters that covered the basement and seeped into the ground floor of his photography business in Hopkinsville. He said the downtown area was "like a lake."
"We're holding ground," he said. "We're trying to maintain and keep it out the best we can."
A corridor from northeast Texas through Arkansas and into southeast Missouri, which has a population of about 2.3 million, could see clusters of severe thunderstorms late Friday. The National Weather Service's Oklahoma-based Storm Prediction Center warned of the potential for intense tornadoes and large hail.
The seven people killed in the initial wave of storms that spawned powerful tornadoes on Wednesday and early Thursday were in Tennessee, Missouri and Indiana. They included Garry Moore, chief of the Whitewater Fire Protection District in Missouri. He 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.
Flash flood threat looms over many states
Heavy rains were expected to continue in parts of Missouri, Kentucky and elsewhere in the coming days and could produce dangerous flash floods capable of sweeping away cars.
In Hopkinsville, 5 to 8 inches of rain had fallen by Thursday morning, causing the Little River to surge over its banks.
Kentucky's road conditions website showed scores of state roads closed by high water on Friday morning. A landslide closed a nearly 3-mile 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.
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 of America.
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, 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 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.
Workers on bulldozers cleared rubble along the highway that crosses through Lake City, where a tornado with winds of 150 mph 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.
