Widespread floods leave 16 dead across five U.S. states
At least 16 people have died as a multi-hazard weather system brought widespread flooding from Texas to Ohio, with the heaviest impacts reported in Tennessee, Kentucky, and Arkansas since Wednesday, April 2, 2025.
Flood in Missouri on Saturday, April 5, 2025. Image credit: MSHP Troop G
At least 16 deaths have been reported across the Midwest and the southern United States as a multi-hazard weather system continued affecting areas from Texas to Ohio through Saturday, April 5.
Ten fatalities have been confirmed in Tennessee alone. Additional storm-related deaths have been reported in Kentucky, Missouri, Arkansas, and Indiana since the system began impacting the region on Wednesday, April 2.
Flooding continues across much of the area from Tennessee to Missouri, with several locations reporting up to 508 mm (20 inches) of rainfall since Wednesday.
Sections of several major highways in Tennessee and Kentucky have been closed due to rising water levels, with the National Weather Service (NWS) urging drivers to “turn around” if they encounter flooded roadways.
Sections of Interstate 40 in Memphis, Tennessee, were closed due to standing water, while parts of the northbound and southbound lanes on Interstate 69 in Daviess County, Kentucky, were temporarily closed due to high water levels.
At least 390 roads were closed across Kentucky on Saturday morning due to flooding, mudslides, and rockslides, Governor Andy Beshear said. Beshear declared a state of emergency for the western part of the state, citing potentially record rainfall in areas not typically prone to flooding.
The Ohio River, which flows through Louisville, Kentucky, has risen more than 1.52 m (5 feet) over the past 24 hours and is expected to rise significantly over the next two to three days, Mayor Craig Greenberg said Saturday afternoon.
In Mammoth Spring, Arkansas, a train was stopped on a bridge early Saturday morning due to multiple active weather warnings. Heavy floodwaters washed out the bridge and caused several cars to derail, according to BNSF Railway. BNSF personnel were on site Saturday afternoon, coordinating with Mammoth Spring State Park to clear the incident and repair the bridge.
President Donald Trump on Saturday approved Arkansas’ request for an Emergency Declaration for Direct Federal Assistance to support the state’s response to the storms, tornadoes, and flooding.
The heavy rainfall is expected to shift eastward to the Appalachians and the Southeast on Sunday, April 6. Intense rainfall is possible from the Appalachians to the Gulf Coast. Storm threats will remain in effect for the Florida Panhandle, Alabama, and Georgia on Sunday, while the flood threat in Arkansas, Tennessee, and Kentucky is expected to lessen by Sunday afternoon.
The Storm Prediction Center has issued a Slight Risk (level 2 of 4) across much of the region. A concentrated Moderate Risk (level 3 of 4) for excessive rainfall has been issued for parts of central Alabama and west-central Georgia.
The risk of heavy rainfall and flash flooding is expected to decrease significantly on Monday, with only a Marginal Risk (level 1 of 4) identified from southeastern Virginia to northern Florida.
References:
1 Short Range Forecast Discussion – NWS/WPC – April 6, 2025
2 At least 16 dead as tornadoes, flooding ravage several states in central US – Fox Weather – April 6. 2025
Rishav Kothari is Editor-in-Chief of The Watchers, where he runs the newsroom and covers earthquakes, volcanoes, severe weather and space weather.
Published in the last 24 hours
- Flying glass cut a teacher in Russia but none of her 44 pupils, because when a meteor flashed across the sky in 2013, she told them to get under their desks Epicenter
- A South Dakota man put the widest and heaviest hailstone on US record in his freezer, and a power cut melted part of it before NOAA measured it at 8 inches across and nearly 2 pounds in 2010 Epicenter
- Black kites and brown falcons in northern Australia have been seen snatching smoldering sticks from wildfires, flying them into unburned grass and dropping them, starting new fires that send lizards, rodents and insects running straight toward the waiting birds Epicenter
- A levee protecting a highway north of San Francisco is pocked with animal burrows and only 3 feet wide in places, and a report warns this winter's El Niño could push water over the top Epicenter
