Swollen rivers flood towns in US South after dayslong deluge of rain
[April 07, 2025]
By JON CHERRY, KIMBERLEE KRUESI and ANTHONY IZAGUIRRE
FRANKFORT, Kentucky (AP) — Days of unrelenting heavy rain and storms
that killed at least 18 people worsened flooding as some rivers rose to
near-record levels and inundated towns across an already saturated U.S.
South and parts of the Midwest.
Cities ordered evacuations and rescue crews in inflatable boats checked
on residents in Kentucky and Tennessee, while utilities shut off power
and gas in a region stretching from Texas to Ohio.
“As long as I’ve been alive — and I’m 52 — this is the worst I’ve ever
seen it,” said Wendy Quire, the general manager at the Brown Barrel
restaurant in downtown Frankfort, Kentucky, the state capital built
around the swollen Kentucky River.
“The rain just won’t stop,” Quire said Sunday. “It’s been nonstop for
days and days.”
Officials diverted traffic and turned off utilities to businesses in the
city as the river was expected to crest above 49 feet Monday to a
record-setting level, said Frankfort Mayor Layne Wilkerson. The city's
flood wall system is designed to withstand 51 feet of water.
For many, there was a sense of dread that the worst was still to come.
“This flooding is an act of God,” said Kevin Gordon, a front desk clerk
at the Ashbrook Hotel in downtown Frankfort. The hotel was offering
discounted stays to affected locals.
Storms leaving devastating impact
The 18 reported deaths since the storms began on Wednesday included 10
in Tennessee. A 9-year-old boy in Kentucky was caught up in floodwaters
while walking to catch his school bus. A 5-year-old boy in Arkansas died
after a tree fell on his family’s home, police said. A 16-year-old
volunteer Missouri firefighter died in a crash while seeking to rescue
people caught in the storm.
The National Weather Service warned Sunday that dozens of locations in
multiple states were expected to reach a “major flood stage,” with
extensive flooding of structures, roads, bridges and other critical
infrastructure possible.
In north-central Kentucky, emergency officials ordered a mandatory
evacuation for Falmouth and Butler, towns near the bend of the rising
Licking River. Thirty years ago, the river reached a record 50 feet (15
meters), resulting in five deaths and 1,000 homes destroyed.
The storms come after the Trump administration cut jobs at NWS forecast
offices, leaving half of them with vacancy rates of about 20%, or double
the level of a decade ago.
Why so much nasty weather?
Forecasters attributed the violent weather to warm temperatures, an
unstable atmosphere, strong winds and abundant moisture streaming from
the Gulf.
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The flooded downtown area is seen on Sunday, April 6, 2025, in
Frankfort, Ky. (AP Photo/Jon Cherry)
The NWS said 5.06 inches (nearly 13 centimeters) of rain fell
Saturday in Jonesboro, Arkansas — making it the wettest day ever
recorded in April in the city. Memphis, Tennessee, received 14
inches (35 centimeters) of rain from Wednesday to Sunday, the NWS
said.
Rives, a northwestern Tennessee town of about 200 people, was almost
entirely underwater after the Obion River overflowed.
Domanic Scott went to check on his father in Rives after not hearing
from him in a house where water reached the doorstep.
“It’s the first house we’ve ever paid off. The insurance companies
around here won’t give flood insurance to anyone who lives in Rives
because we’re too close to the river and the levees. So if we lose
it, we’re kind of screwed without a house,” Scott said.
In Dyersburg, Tennessee, dozens of people arrived over the weekend
at a storm shelter near a public school clutching blankets, pillows
and other necessities. Just days earlier the city was hit by a
tornado that caused millions of dollars in damage.
Among them was George Manns, 77, who said he was in his apartment
when he heard a tornado warning and decided to head to the shelter.
Just days earlier the city was hit by a tornado that caused millions
of dollars in damage.
“I grabbed all my stuff and came here,” said Mann, who brought a
folding chair, two bags of toiletries, laptops, iPads and
medications: “I don’t leave them in my apartment in case my
apartment is destroyed."
For others, grabbing the essentials also meant taking a closer look
at the liquor cabinet.
In Frankfort, with water rising up to his window sills, resident
Bill Jones fled his home in a boat, which he loaded with several
boxes of bottles of bourbon.
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