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At least 10 million people have been placed under flood warnings after torrential rain and winter storms battered the Southeast, resulting in at least four deaths.
Parts of Kentucky and Tennessee received up to six inches of rain during the weekend storms, while the Northern Plains faced life-threatening cold. Tornado watches were issued for parts of Georgia and Florida.
The National Weather Service previously warned of storms moving across the eastern U.S., predicting heavy snow over northern New York into northern New England until early on Monday.
“Heavy rainfall will continue areas of flash flooding from the mid-Mississippi Valley into the central Appalachians into Sunday. Severe thunderstorms may bring damaging winds and tornadoes to parts of the Southeast U.S. this weekend,” the NWS wrote on X.
Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear said on Sunday that President Trump had approved his request for disaster relief funding. In a post on X he noted the “historic impact” of the weather, which included mudslides and snow.
On Saturday night, a mother and her seven-year-old child were killed in the state when the car they were in was swept away by flood waters in Hart County, a county official told WBKO-TV.
In southeastern Kentucky, a 73-year-old man was found dead in floodwaters in Clay County, County Emergency Management Deputy Director Revelle Berry said.
Louisville Metro Police Department issued a warning on Facebook for drivers not to drive through flooded roadways. “County wide, first responders have completed nearly 30 water rescues today and counting. Turn around, don’t drown,” the force wrote.
Bob Oravec, a senior forecaster with the NWS said the impact of the downpours would “continue for a while.”
“Any time there’s flooding, the flooding can last a lot longer than the rain lasts,” he said on Sunday.
Severe storms also swept through parts of Florida and Georgia. In Atlanta, a person was killed when an “extremely large tree” fell on a home early Sunday, according to Atlanta Fire Rescue Capt. Scott Powell.
Elsewhere, heavy snowfall amounts, with wind gusts reaching up to 60 mph and creating “hazardous whiteout conditions,” were expected in parts of New England and northern New York, according to the NWS.
Temperatures as low as the minus 30s are expected for the Northern Plains and near the Canadian border. Dangerously cold wind chill temperatures in the Dakotas and Minnesota of minus 40 to minus 50 are expected, the NWS added.
