Catastrophic flooding sweeps US South, Midwest, 18 dead as rivers surge

Heavy rain and storms have caused catastrophic flooding across the US South and parts of the Midwest, claiming at least 18 lives.

Rivers swelled to near-record levels on April 7, inundating towns already saturated from days of unrelenting weather, Caliber.Az reports citing foreign media.

Officials in several cities ordered evacuations, while emergency responders used inflatable boats to rescue residents in Kentucky and Tennessee. Utilities shut off power and gas across a wide region, stretching from Texas to Ohio.

“I think everybody was shocked at how quick (the river) actually did come up,” said Jessica Tuggle, a salon owner in Frankfort, Kentucky, as murky brown floodwaters neared her business along the swollen Kentucky River. She and friends hurried to move salon equipment to higher ground as each new wave of rain arrived, hoping for a break so they could assess the extent of the damage. “Everybody was just ‘stop raining, stop raining’ so we could get an idea of what the worst situation would be,” she said.

The storms have caused widespread devastation, with the death toll rising as a result of floodwaters and debris. Since the storms began on April 3, 10 people have died in Tennessee alone, and other fatalities have been reported in Kentucky, Arkansas, and Missouri. As rivers continued to rise, emergency officials ordered evacuations from towns near the Licking River in Kentucky, which reached dangerous levels reminiscent of a 1978 disaster that claimed five lives.

The National Weather Service issued warnings of major flood stages across the affected states, with the potential for significant damage to infrastructure.

By Vafa Guliyeva