LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — At least eight people have died in Kentucky as creeks swelled from heavy storms and water covered roads, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said Sunday. Hundreds of people stranded by flooding had to be rescued.
Beshear said many 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 the storms have knocked out power to about 39,000 homes, but he warned that harsh winds in some areas could increase outages.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Much of the U.S. faced another round of biting winter weather Sunday, with torrential rains causing intense flooding in Kentucky and resulting in at least four deaths in the Southeast. The Northern Plains faced life-threatening cold, and tornado watches were issued for parts of Georgia and Florida.
A mother and her 7-year-old child were killed in Kentucky when the car they were in was swept away by flood waters in Hart County near Interstate 65, a county official told WBKO-TV. Hart County Coroner Tony Roberts said the two were swept away Saturday night in the Bonnieville community. In southeastern Kentucky, a 73-year-old man was found dead in floodwaters in Clay County, County Emergency Management Deputy Director Revelle Berry said.
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said Sunday that President Trump had approved his request for disaster relief funding.
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.”
Severe storms also swept through parts of Florida and Georgia, where tornado watches were in effect early Sunday, the National Weather Service said.
In Atlanta, a person was killed when an “extremely 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.
Heavy snowfall amounts were expected in parts of New England and northern New York. In some areas, wind gusts could reach 60 mph (about 97 kph) and create “hazardous whiteout conditions,” the NWS said.
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.
Chilly temperatures replaced the heavy rains with snow early Sunday morning in parts of Kentucky.
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear preemptively declared a state of emergency in Kentucky ahead of the storms, where flash flooding was expected into Sunday.
“Widespread flooding is continuing,” Beshear said in a social media post Sunday morning. He said evacuations of people in flooded areas were continuing on Sunday.
The Kentucky River Medical Center in the city of Jackson said closed its emergency department and was transferring all patients to two other hospitals in the region. The hospital said it would re-evaluate conditions Sunday morning to determine when it can safely reopen. The north fork of the Kentucky River was forecast to crest nearly 14 feet (4.3 meters) above flood stage that afternoon, the weather service said.
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.
New England faces snow, then sleet
Meanwhile heavy snow was expected to blanket much of New England and then transition to sleet.
Oravec said Sunday that snowfall in the region was relatively light, due to the freezing rain and sleet mix.
Snow and arctic temperatures swept much of the Midwest and Upper Plains on Saturday, covering roads in eastern Nebraska, northern Iowa and much of Wisconsin. Winter weather advisories were issued for parts of those states and Michigan, with up to 4 inches (10.6 centimeters) of snow predicted throughout Iowa, southern Wisconsin and most of Michigan by Sunday evening.
Frigid polar vortex
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.
In Denver, where temperatures were expected to dip as low as 14 degrees (minus 10 degrees Celsius) over the weekend, the city opened shelters for those living on the streets.
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Sophia Tareen contributed to this report from Chicago.
Dylan Lovan, The Associated Press
