Estimated read time: 5-6 minutes
- Deadly storms in the South and Midwest have subsided, but rivers rise.
- At least 19 deaths reported, including children and widespread evacuations in Kentucky.
- The Kentucky River nears flood wall limits, with communities still at risk from flooding.
FRANKFURT, Ky. — Deadly, relentless rain across the South and Midwest is finally subsiding Monday, but the danger for many communities is increasing. They only have to look at the rapidly rising rivers to see what's coming.
"As long as I've been alive — and I'm 52 — this is the worst I've ever seen it," Wendy Quire, the general manager of the Brown Barrel restaurant in downtown Frankfort, told the Associated Press.
Floodwaters were already inundating communities Sunday, the result of days of rain from storms that claimed at least 19 lives since the middle of last week.
Rivers are still on the rise in several already flood-ravaged states. The Kentucky River is expected to crest in Frankfort — Kentucky's capital — just shy of the city's protective flood walls.
"It's good to be able to come out this morning and it not be raining. We're thankful for that, but we're still dealing with water rising," said John Ward, sheriff of Hardin County, which is south of Louisville on a bend in the Ohio River.
"I've seen homes underwater that have never had water. I don't think people were ready," Ward told CNN on Monday morning.
Over a foot of rain has fallen across the mid-South since Wednesday where some locations – including Memphis, Tennessee – recorded nearly an entire spring's worth of rain in just a few days. On Saturday, over a dozen daily rainfall records were set in Arkansas and Tennessee. Little Rock got over 6 inches, and Nashville got nearly 4 inches. Memphis hit 5.47 inches, making Saturday the city's wettest day ever in April.
The relentless rain was dumped by destructive storms that also produced tornadoes across the central U.S. The National Weather Service has rated at least 60 tornadoes since the storms began, with five rated as EF3 strength. As of Saturday, the U.S. had seen 10 consecutive days of tornadoes.
The storms have left at least 19 people dead across seven states, including 10 in Tennessee. Among those killed are a 5-year-old boy found in a storm-damaged home in Arkansas and a 9-year-old Kentucky boy who was swept away by floodwaters while walking to his school bus stop. On Sunday, a father and son were killed on a Georgia golf course when the tree they were sheltering under fell, according to CNN affiliate WTVM.
"Remember, this event is not over until the waters have receded, until the areas that have flooded are fully dry, until we don't have saturated ground that could create mudslides over roads and bridges," Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said Monday.
Floodwaters devastate broad swath of Kentucky
The widespread flooding has triggered evacuations, water rescues, and warnings to move to higher ground across Kentucky. Many people are still in harm's way as others start to dig out of the muck, but a dramatic return to winter-like chill early this week poses another complicating factor.
In Frankfort, the Kentucky River crested at its second-highest level on record Monday morning, just shy of 1978's devastating flooding and worryingly close to what the city's flood protections can handle.
"I've heard tales about 1978," Frankfort resident Karen Kuhner told CNN affiliate WKYT. "I wasn't here then and my heart just goes out to all of the people that aren't able to leave and whose homes are more than likely going to be destroyed."
Frankfort's government warned that floodwaters could spill over in areas where the protection is not fully shored up, but they believe the city's protective barriers will be able to handle the high water mark.
"The flood wall system is designed to withstand 51 feet of water, assuming all sandbag lines, temporary protection and levee closure structures are in place," the city said in a statement.
In Prospect, along the Ohio River, the owners of Captain's Quarters Riverside Grille responded to the incursion of dirty river water by deliberately flooding the restaurant with fresh water, keeping most of the silt and debris out. In a Facebook video, co-owner Andrew Masterson explained that when the flood recedes, it will be easier to clean up damage from clean water than river water.
"It is a huge interruption to our business. It's a significant cost, but we know it comes with the territory of being on the river," Masterson told CNN on Monday.
Emergency crews worked Sunday night to contain a large spill of motor oil and diesel fuel at a trucking garage outside Butler, CNN affiliate WKRC reported. Pendleton Emergency Management spokesman Rob Braun said the spill, caused by high water, was near Northern Elementary.
Residents of Butler and Falmouth were ordered to evacuate Saturday — anyone who stayed behind was warned their utilities could go out, and water rescuers might not be able to reach them if needed, according to CNN affiliate WCPO.
Several Falmouth residents came to the aid of an older neighbor to help her move belongings out of her home.
"Most of the people here (don't) know the homeowner," one of the residents told WCPO. "They just seen us back up here with the trailer and they just stop and say, 'Can we help?'"
Water rescues were carried out Sunday near Colesburg, about 30 miles south of Louisville, the county sheriff reported, as waters rose rapidly in the Rolling Fork River.
Drone footage of nearby New Haven shows the aftermath of the river bursting its banks, flooding properties on the town's main street with brown water. As the road leads out of town, it takes on the appearance of a causeway, fields hidden under vast quantities of water.
So many roads across Kentucky were impassable due to flooding over the weekend that the state ran out of road-closing barriers, the Hardin County sheriff said.
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