Weekend Storms, Flooding Leave 13 Dead
Pastor Dale Morgan
Weekend Storms, Flooding Leave 13 Dead*
Tuesday September 26, 2006 3:31 AM
By DYLAN T. LOVAN
Associated Press Writer
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) - Debris and damaged items from homes and
businesses where hauled curbside Monday as residents in the Midwest and
South cleaned up after the weekend's severe thunderstorms that were
blamed for 13 deaths.
At least 8 deaths were reported in Kentucky after flooding triggered by
5 to 10 inches of rain in 36 hours sent rivers and creeks over their
banks. Eighteen counties and 12 cities declared states of emergency,
state officials said.
Every business in the small far western Kentucky city of Fulton was
flooded by four feet of water from Harris Fork Creek, authorities said.
High water remained across Kentucky on Monday, and while some flood
warnings were still in effect, creeks and rivers had nearly all crested,
according to the National Weather Service.
The storms that hit parts of Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky,
Missouri and Tennessee on Friday and Saturday stranded people in cars,
forced others from their homes and left thousands without power.
The death toll in Kentucky included two University of Kentucky students
swept up by knee-deep water as they tried to cross a flooded Lexington
roadway.
``This is a very exceptional event,'' Bud Schardein, executive director
of Louisville's metropolitan sewer district, said of the flooding.
``This is not the average storm, it's not even a heavy storm,''
In Illinois, authorities said lightning was the apparent cause of a
house fire that killed elderly two women. Three deaths were reported in
Arkansas, where six counties declared states of emergency.
In northern Arkansas on Monday, officials found the body of a retired
firefighter two days after he was swept away when the Spring River
overflowed its banks at a campground in Hardy.
With the floods, campers were stranded at the private campgrounds.
``People were hanging from trees,'' Hardy Fire Chief Lonnie Phelps said.
``The river came up quick.''
Arkansas rivers swelled up to 8 feet above flood levels, officials said.
Campers at River Bend Park were asked to evacuate.
``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.
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Associated Press writers Bruce Schreiner and Will Graves in Louisville;
Jeff McMurray in Lexington; Jill Zeman and Jon Gambrell in Little Rock,
Ark.; and Heather Hollingsworth in Kansas City, Mo., contributed to this
report.