At least 9 deaths blamed on powerful storm that toppled trees and flooded roads – CNN
Source: CNN
At least 10 people died this weekend as a powerful storm swept through a large swath of the United States, bringing widespread flooding and damaging winds to Southern and Eastern states.
In Kentucky, where flooding inundated roads and homes, at least nine are dead, Gov. Andy Beshear said in a post to social media Sunday.
“We just confirmed another weather-related death out of Pike County, bringing our total loss to 9 people,” Beshear said. At least one other person died in Georgia, an official there said.
Emergency responders are now in a search and rescue phase and have performed over 1,000 rescues in under 24 hours, Beshear said. The governor described the storm as “one of the most serious weather events we’ve dealt with in at least a decade.”
Video footage captured in multiple states shows toppled trees, vehicles submerged in floodwaters and inundated houses with widespread reports of flooded roads, businesses and homes in Tennessee, Kentucky and Virginia.
Water levels reached historic highs in Kentucky as the storm gained momentum Saturday, officials said, two years after catastrophic flooding left 43 people dead and devastated parts of the state. Beshear on Sunday called the impact to the state “massive” and cited “hundreds of water rescues” and “multiple fatalities.”
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“We need Kentuckians to remain alert. There are more than 300 road closures, with (state transportation) leaders saying the statewide impact is historic,” Beshear posted on social media. “From mudslides in the east to snow in the west, the situation is dangerous. Please plan ahead, avoid travel and stay safe, Kentucky,” the governor said.
The deaths include at least one child, Beshear said. “We believe this number is going to grow,” he said. He urged Kentuckians to stay off the roads, adding several of the deaths have been attributed to motor vehicle accidents.
Beshear declared a state of emergency for Kentucky ahead of the storm Friday and Sunday thanked President Donald Trump for approving a federal disaster declaration, making federal aid funding available to impacted areas.
The severe weather event will “continue for several more days,” Kentucky Emergency Management Director Eric Gibson said Sunday. Beshear warned of continued flooding, including riverbank flooding, in coming days.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency is on site in Kentucky, according to Beshear, along with 146 soldiers and airmen from the Kentucky National Guard.
The intense rain and flash flooding have prompted evacuations and caused power outages for hundreds of thousands of customers across several states.
Parts of West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky, Arkansas and Tennessee were under flash flood emergencies and warnings through Sunday morning. Flood watches in some areas will continue into Monday. Several tornado warnings were issued across Mississippi, Alabama and Tennessee late Saturday, before the storm pushed into Georgia on Sunday morning.
At least 108,028 customers in Georgia, 75,724 in Alabama, 61,637 in West Virginia and 61,520 in Virginia were without power as of 2:20 p.m. ET, according to PowerOutage.us. In Kentucky, 29,628 were without power.
The extreme flooding has also affected Kentucky’s water systems. A total of 9,800 service connections were without water and 21,000 were under boil water advisories Sunday, according to a news release from the governor’s office.
At a Kentucky nursing home, 100 residents were evacuated to a local church, the news release stated. Emergency shelters are operating in nine counties across the state.
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced Sunday he submitted an Expedited Major Disaster Declaration to President Trump, citing “significant damage that is affecting community lifelines.” This is the fifth major flood to hit the area in the past five years, the governor said in a news release.
A flash flood emergency was issued for Tazewell, Mercer and Summers counties in Virginia, where swift water rescues have been underway since Saturday.
“The frigid water temperatures that can result in rapid hypothermia for anyone caught in the flooding,” the National Weather Service office in Blacksburg, Virginia, warned.
A nursing home in Red Boiling Springs, Tennessee, about 10 miles from the Kentucky border, was forced to evacuate residents Saturday due to rising waters, according to Macon County Emergency Medical Services.
Multiple agencies helped in the effort to safely take 52 residents to another facility, where they will remain until water levels recede,
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