Kentucky faces devastating flooding with 9 dead and more than a thousand rescued
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
A mother and her 7-year-old child were killed in Kentucky when the car they were in was swept away by floodwaters 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.
Park Boundary Road between Seneca and Cherokee was closed due to high water Sunday morning after heavy rains flooded Beargrass Creek in Louisville, Ky., on Sunday.Matt Stone / The Courier-Journal via USA Today Network
Nearly 40,000 residents are without power, 9,800 service connections lack water and 26,000 are under a boil-water advisory, authorities said at the Sunday press conference. Pike County School District announced Sunday that it will be closed until further notice.
Beshear said Sunday that President Donald Trump had approved his request for disaster relief funding.
Some Southern states were also hit by tornadoes.
An EF-1 tornado touched down in Hale and Perry counties in Alabama early Sunday morning, according to the National Weather Service office in Birmingham. Some homes were "severely damaged" and one was destroyed, the weather service said.
There were four tornadoes in northeast Mississippi Saturday night, including an EF-1 in Shannon, an EF-0 in southwest Itawamba County, an EF-0 in South Fairview and an EF-1 in Bounds Crossroads, the National Weather Service office in Memphissaid Sunday.
Parts of Kentucky and Tennessee received up to 6 inches of rain during the weekend storms, said Bob Oravec, a senior forecaster with the National Weather Service.
"The effects will continue for a while, 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 in Rives, Tennessee, failed Saturday afternoon and flooded the nearby neighborhoods, the weather service reported. It's unclear how many people were affected.
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 was expected for the Northern Plains with low temperatures into the minus 30s near the Canadian border. Dangerously cold wind chill temperatures in the Dakotas and Minnesota of minus 40 to minus 50 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 and create "hazardous whiteout conditions," the NWS said.
In Northeast Philadelphia, a woman died when a tree fell on the car she was in amid a night of powerful gusts, NBC Philadelphia reported.
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 Division of Emergency Management in Lexington, Kentucky, said a flood warning is in effect in the city until 4:30 p.m. Monday. In Hazard, Kentucky, there is a boil water advisory amid the flooding.
The city of Beattyville, Kentucky — with a population of about 2,150 — has been evacuated, Lee County Judge Executive Steve Mays said in a statement on social media. Mays said officials have "evacuated all areas in the city limits that have been affected by the flood," except for a nursing home and an apartment complex.
Officials "are in constant contact" with the nursing home and have tried to "make contact" at the apartment complex by knocking on doors, he said.
The Barren River floods after a rain storm in Bowling Green, Ky., on Sunday.Brett Carlsen / Getty Images
Chilly temperatures replaced the heavy rains with snow early Sunday morning in parts of Kentucky.
Beshear preemptively declared a state of emergency in Kentucky ahead of the storms.
The Kentucky River Medical Center in the city of Jackson closed its emergency department and was transferring all patients to two other hospitals in the region. The north fork of the Kentucky River was forecast to crest nearly 14 feet 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.
A partially submerged car outside of Bowling Green, Ky., on Saturday.Warren County Sheriff's Office via AP
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.
Selina Guevara
Selina Guevara is an NBC News associate producer, based in Chicago.
The Associated Press
The Associated Press
Rebecca Cohen contributed.
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Where was Trump during this emergency/disaster? Joy riding around a NASCAR track in Florida.
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Trump issued an emergency declaration for the state at 3 p.m. EST, which authorizes the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to conduct disaster relief efforts.
Kentucky Flooding: 10 People Killed As Trump Declares Emergency