Floods threaten after storms kill 12
Pastor Dale Morgan
Floods threaten after storms kill 12*
POSTED: 0004 GMT (0804 HKT), September 25, 2006
LOUISVILLE, Kentucky (AP) -- Stormy weather blamed for 12 deaths in the
Midwest and South subsided on Sunday, though residents in some states
remained shut out of their homes due to high waters.
Flood warnings remained in effect for parts of Arkansas, Kentucky and
Missouri. Many Kentucky roads were still submerged on Sunday, but waters
in many areas began to recede.
"It looks like everything's kind of quieting down, and things are being
handled on the local level right now," said Buddy Rogers, a spokesman
for the Kentucky Division of Emergency Management in Frankfort.
The storms that hit parts of Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky,
Missouri and Tennessee Friday and Saturday stranded people in cars,
forced others from their homes and left thousands without power.
The death toll in Kentucky reached eight, including a father and his
1-year-old daughter in a truck that skidded in floodwaters. Two deaths
were reported in Arkansas, and in Illinois, authorities say lightning
was the apparent cause of a house fire that killed elderly two women.
(Watch how powerful floodwaters claimed two lives -- 1:29)
The National Weather Service reported that areas of Kentucky received at
least 5 inches of rain, with isolated regions getting close to 10
inches. Over 24 hours, parts of northeast Arkansas and southeast
Missouri received more than 10 inches of rain, the weather service reported.
In Kentucky, about 200 people at Terrapin Hill Harvest Festival were
evacuated by boats and school buses to transport after rising waters
forced an evacuation, said Ruthann Phillips of the Red Cross. (Watch
people cope with waist-deep water -- :40)
"It was almost Katrina-like, pretty much," said Chester Craig, a
lieutenant with the Mercer Central Volunteer Fire Department. "There
were vehicles underwater and people were walking around in a daze."
Arkansas rivers swelled up to 8 feet above flood levels, officials said.
Campers at River Bend Park in Hardy, Arkansas, were asked to evacuate
when the Spring River began rising.
"I didn't think we were going to make it out of there," said Charles
Lenderman, who awoke Saturday morning to find knee-high water in his
camper's kitchen. Lenderman and family members -- wearing life jackets
-- swam from the camper to higher ground about 100 yards away.
In central and eastern Missouri, nearly 400 structures were damaged or
destroyed and at least 10 people were injured by about 10 tornadoes,
officials said.