Massive Storm System Threatens 90 Million People With Tornadoes, Flash Floods, and Historic Rainfall Totals

Danny Qualls stood by the twisted steel tractors on his family farm in northeast Arkansas on Thursday, watching as friends and family helped him start cleaning up.

The home where he grew up but no longer lives was flattened by one of many tornadoes that wreaked havoc from Oklahoma to Indiana — the first of a series of storms expected to bring historic rains and life-threatening flash floods across the country’s midsection in coming days.

“My husband has been extremely tearful and emotional, but he also knows that we have to do the work,” she said. “He was in shock last night, cried himself to sleep.”

At least seven people were killed in Tennessee, Missouri, and Indiana during the initial wave on Wednesday and early Thursday that produced violent tornadoes, one of which hurled light debris about 5 miles (8 km) into the air over Arkansas.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee said it was too early to tell if there were other deaths as searches continued.

“The devastation is huge. The most painful part is that you realise there are people’s lives that have been ruined,” Lee remarked in Selmer, a hard-hit town. “In some cases, true life lost, but in other cases, everything people owned, up in trees.”

During an evening press conference, Lee stated that entire neighbourhoods in Selmer had been “completely wiped out” and advised residents across the state not to relax as more severe weather is expected.

A Tennessee man and his teen daughter died after their home was demolished, as did a man whose pickup collided with downed electrical wires in Indiana. Garry Moore, 68, the chief of the Whitewater Fire Protection District in Missouri, died while most likely attempting to assist a stranded motorist, according to Highway Patrol spokeswoman Sgt. Clark Parrott.

On Thursday, forecasters warned of impending severe weather. According to the National Weather Prediction Centre in Maryland, thunderstorms were queuing up like goods trains, travelling in the same direction over communities in Arkansas, Tennessee, and Kentucky.

The bull’s-eye centred on a region of the Mississippi River that contained more than 1.3 million people in the Memphis, Tennessee area.

According to the Storm Prediction Centre in Oklahoma, more than 90 million people were at risk of severe weather ranging from Texas to Minnesota and Maine.

A flash flood threat looms across numerous states.

Heavy rains were anticipated to continue in the central United States through Saturday, potentially causing deadly flash floods that may sweep away cars. The powerful storm system will cause “significant, life-threatening flash flooding” every day, according to the National Weather Service.

With more than a foot (30 centimetres) of rain expected over the next four days, the continuous deluge is something that “happens once in a generation to once in a lifetime,” the meteorological service stated. “Historic rainfall totals and impacts are possible.”

Water rescue teams and sandbagging operations were set up around the region, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency was prepared to deliver food, water, cots, and generators.

Water rescues were already underway in flooded areas of Nashville, Tennessee, where rain might last for days following an unsettling period of tornado warnings that depleted the batteries of several city sirens, according to the fire department.

Gov. Andy Beshear said Western Kentucky was bracing for record rain and floods in areas that are not often flooded. According to a statement released by his office on Thursday, at least 25 state highways were flooded, with the majority of them in the west.

Flash flooding is especially dangerous in rural sections of the state, where water can quickly pour down the mountains and into the hollows. Less than four years ago, flooding in eastern Kentucky killed dozens of people.

Extreme flooding in the region that contains key freight hubs such as Louisville, Kentucky, and Memphis could also cause shipping and supply chain delays, according to AccuWeather’s chief meteorologist, Jonathan Porter.

Warm temperatures, an unstable atmosphere, severe wind shear, and ample moisture coming from the Gulf all contributed to the extreme weather, according to forecasters.

Tornadoes leave a path of damage, and more may be coming.

Under cloudy skies Thursday morning, the wreckage of a used car shop in Selmer stood roofless and gutted, with debris strewn across the lot and coiled around twisted trees. Some homes were ripped to their foundations in the Tennessee town where three tornadoes were alleged to have struck.

The Tennessee Highway Patrol shared video of lightning illuminating the sky as first responders searched the wreckage of a home for anyone trapped.

According to weather service meteorologist Chelly Amin, a tornado near Blytheville lofted debris at least 25,000 feet (7.6 km) high. Tornadoes, wind, hail, and flash flooding caused damage to 22 counties, according to the state’s emergency management office.

A tornado in northeast Arkansas devastated Danny Qualls’ childhood house, which he no longer lives in.

“My husband has been extremely tearful and emotional, but he also knows that we have to do the work,” she said. “He was in shock last night, cried himself to sleep.”

Workers on bulldozers cleaned rubble along the highway that runs through Lake City, where a tornado with winds of 150 mph (241 kph) tore roofs off homes, crumbled brick walls, and flung automobiles into trees.

Mississippi’s governor reported that at least 60 homes were damaged. Four persons were injured in far western Kentucky while taking cover in a vehicle under a church carport, according to Ballard County’s emergency management office.