Storms in Midwest, South leave 6 dead

[stu]

By WILL GRAVES, Associated Press Writer

2 hours, 16 minutes ago

 

 

 

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - High winds, heavy rain and tornadoes pounded parts of the Midwest and the South, leaving six people dead and stranding others in trees and shelters while forecasters warned Saturday that the stormy weather was expected to continue.

 

Officials were trying to "find and rescue anyone else we might have missed throughout the night," Tamara Roberts of the Sharp County, Ark., Sheriff's Office told Little Rock television station KATV.

 

Stormy weather buffeted the region Friday. Areas in northeast Arkansas and southeast Missouri received more than 10 inches of rain within 24 hours, said David Blanchard, a National Weather Service forecaster in Paducah, Ky.

 

More storms and possibly tornadoes were forecast for Saturday.

 

"There's so much moisture in the atmosphere, you could get a lot of rain in no time flat," said Brian Smith, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

 

Two tornadoes swept through south-central Missouri on Friday afternoon, damaging more than 100 homes and tearing off part of a roof at a middle school moments after a tornado drill.

 

A firefighter videotaped two twisters moving through St. James, said Phelps County emergency management director Bruce Southard. He estimated the tornadoes were on the ground for 10 minutes.

 

"It's devastating," he said. "We've got nice houses that are just tore to pieces."

 

Devin Wilburn, 12, said students at St. James Middle School had just completed a tornado drill. Then, they interrupted their science test to rush back into the hallway for the real thing. The children knelt down and put their hands over their heads, he said.

 

"I just heard a bunch of thunder and ripping, because the top of the roof came off," Devin said.

 

No teachers, children or staff members were injured.

 

Officials in Sharp County, Ark., worked Saturday to rescue people who were stranded after heavy rains flooded much of the county, including one person stuck in a tree, sheriff's officials said.

 

Five people were killed in Kentucky, including two women who died trying to cross a flooded roadway early Saturday. Witnesses told rescue officials the women were swept away in a flooded creek, Fire Battalion Chief Mat Ragland said.

 

Others killed included a Jessamine County woman who ran her pickup truck into high water, a motorist who skidded off Interstate 65 near Elizabethtown, and a woman in the southwestern part of the state whose car struck a guard rail.

 

In northwest Arkansas, Deborah Massey, 51, died when her boat was struck by lightning as she and Preston Starritt, 36, both of Prairie Grove, tried to make it to shore, Washington County Sheriff Tim Helder said. Starritt was injured and treated at a hospital.

 

In Kentucky, flooding forced more than 100 people out of a Louisville apartment complex, according to Mayor Jerry Abramson.

 

Portions of Interstate 64 just east of Louisville were closed in both directions due to standing water. Dozens of cars were stranded, Abramson said. I-65 also was closed for a couple of hours in Elizabethtown.

 

"At one point, just about every road in the county was flooded," said Michael Key, a Hardin County 911 dispatcher, after 5 inches of rain fell.

 

Maggie DiPietro, 58, was among about two dozen people who sought shelter at an Elizabethtown community center. She said she woke up shortly after 2 a.m. Saturday and found about 2 inches of water in her home.

 

"By the time the police came and rescued me, it was almost up to my calves," she said.

 

Thousands across the region were without power Saturday, including more than 5,000 Louisville Gas & Electric customers who were in the dark.