The swollen rivers flood cities in the south after a time flood of a time

By Jon Cherry, Kimberlee Kruesi and Anthony Izaguirre, Associated Press

Frankfort, Kentucky (AP) – Days of heavy rains and implacable storms that killed at least 18 people have aggravated floods while some rivers reach almost record levels and flooded cities in a we already saturated south and parts of the midwest.

The cities ordered evacuations and rescue teams in inflatable boats checked the residents of Kentucky and Tennessee, while public services have closed power and gas in a region that extends from Texas to Ohio.

“You am alive – and I am 52 years old – it’s the worst I have ever seen,” said Wendy Quire, director general of the Brown Barl restaurant in the city center of Frankfort, Kentucky, the capital of the state built around the Swollen Kentucky river.

“The rain will not stop,” said Quire on Sunday. “It has been constantly for days and days.”

The officials diverted traffic and disabled public services to the city companies, because the river was to exceed 49 feet on Monday at a record level, said the mayor of Frankfort, Layne Wilkerson. The city flood wall system is designed to withstand 51 waterfoot.

For many, there was a feeling of dread that the worst was still to come.

“This flood is an act of God,” said Kevin Gordon, a reception employee at the Ashbrook hotel in the city center of Frankfort. The hotel offered stays at reduced prices to the inhabitants affected.

Storms leaving a devastating impact

The 18 deaths have been reported since the storms on Wednesday 10 at Tennessee on Wednesday. A 9 year old Kentucky boy was taken in flood waters while walking to catch his school bus. A 5 -year -old boy from Arkansas died after a tree fell at his family’s home, police said. A 16 -year -old Missouri volunteer firefighter died in an accident while he was trying to save people caught in the storm.

The National Weather Service warned on Sunday that dozens of locations in several states were to reach a “major flood stage”, with many floods of structures, roads, bridges and other possible critical infrastructures.

In the North Center of Kentucky, emergency officials ordered a compulsory evacuation for Falmouth and Butler, cities near the turn of the rising licking river. Thirty years ago, the river reached a 50 feet record, causing five deaths and 1,000 houses destroyed.

Storms intervene after the Trump administration has reduced jobs in NWS forecast offices, leaving half of them with output rates of around 20%, or double the level ten years ago.

Why so bad?

Forecastists have attributed violent time to warm temperatures, an unstable atmosphere, strong winds and abundant moisture streaming in the Gulf.

The NWS said that 5.06 inches of rain fell on Saturday in Jonesboro, Arkansas – which makes it the weet day ever recorded in April in the city. Memphis, Tennessee, received 14 inches of rain from Wednesday to Sunday, said the NWS.

Shores, a city in the northwest of Tennessee by around 200 people, was almost entirely underwater after the Obion river overflowed.

Domanic Scott went to check his father in the shores after not having heard of him in a house where the water has reached the door.

“This is the first house that we have never paid. The insurance companies here will not give flood insurance to anyone who lives in rivals because we are too close to the river and the dikes. So, if we lose it, we are somehow screwed up without a house,” said Scott.

In Dyersburg, Tennessee, dozens of people arrived this weekend in a storm refuge near a public school that tightens covers, pillows and other necessities. A few days earlier, the city was struck by a tornado that caused millions of dollars in damage.

Among them, George Manns, 77, who said he was in his apartment when he heard a tornado warning and decided to go to the refuge. A few days earlier, the city was struck by a tornado that caused millions of dollars in damage.

“I caught all my things and I came here,” said Mann, who brought a folding chair, two bags of toiletries, laptops, ipads and medicines: “I do not leave them in my apartment in case my apartment is destroyed.”

For others, entering the essential elements also meant to look more closely at the wardrobe of the alcohols.

In Frankfort, with water rising to its window costs, Bill Jones Resident fled to a boat, which he loaded with several boxes of Bourbon bottles.

Izaguirre reported in New York. Kruesi reported in Nashville. The editors of the Associated Press Bruce Schreiner in Shelbyville, Kentucky; Andrew Demillo in Little Rock, Arkansas; Adrian Sainz in Memphis; Tennessee; Sarah Raza in Sioux Falls, southern Dakota; Obed Lamy in Rives, Tennessee; And Sophia Tareen in Chicago contributed to this report.

Originally published: April 7, 2025 at 4:45 pm PDT