Residents exhausted from dayslong storm are desperate for a break

HOPKINSVILLE, Ky. — The small city of Hopkinsville, Kentucky, was first inundated by rain, a deluge that came with lightning that streaked the sky. Then, there was another invasion, as the water spilled over the banks of the Little River, swamping homes and vehicles as well as the city’s downtown.

On Sunday morning, the city of 31,000 hummed as pumps were fired up to draw out the water that had seeped into buildings. One of them belonged to Tony Kirves, who owns a photography studio. His building’s basement had flooded, and the water nearly reached entrances protected by sandbags.

“It had all receded,” Kirves said. “Then last night it came up again.”

The past few days have been restless, he said, his anxiety rising and falling with the floodwaters. He was exhausted. It was a weariness that was shared across a vast swath of the country, from Texas to Ohio, that had been battered for days by a huge storm system.

A reprieve from the rain was finally coming, as the storm started to shift to the east. Yet even as the deluge subsided, other uncertainties began to emerge, particularly perils posed by engorged rivers gushing over their banks.

“Rivers have not yet crested, so we still have a day — if not more — of rising waters,” Gov. Andy Beshear of Kentucky said Sunday, renewing his warning yet again for residents to stay vigilant.

At least 18 deaths have been attributed to the storm system since Wednesday, including those of a 5-year-old boy in Arkansas, a 9-year-old boy in Kentucky and a 16-year-old volunteer firefighter in Missouri.

So far, the heaviest rains of the weekend have fallen in Arkansas, Missouri and Kentucky, where rising water and flooding have prompted water rescues, road closures and evacuation orders. Some areas received more than 15 inches of rain over the past four days.

Parts of the region could still receive up to 5 more inches of rain before the long stretch of bad weather finally clears, according to the National Weather Service. “Moderate to major” flooding was forecast on many of the region’s rivers.

Some rivers in areas like northern Arkansas and southern Missouri could crest as soon as Sunday. Others may continue rising for two or even three more days, but there will be less chance of dangerous flooding than there was Friday and Saturday, forecasters say.

For many, another unknown is the extent of the destruction.

In Poplar Bluff, Missouri, Mount Calvary Powerhouse Church had to reschedule and relocate its Sunday services after the nearby Black River surged past its banks, turning the church’s parking lot into a muddy brown lake. The church sits atop a small hill, but pastors and congregants worried if it was high enough to spare the sanctuary from the flood.

“We don’t know yet,” said Bishop Ron Webb, the church’s founding pastor. “So we’re going to get a boat after the service and go over there to see, because it go way up there.”

The brunt of the storms moved Sunday to eastern Mississippi, nearly all of Alabama, northwestern Georgia and eastern Tennessee. Areas to the east, from southeastern Virginia to northern Florida, face the greatest risk of excessive rainfall from the storm Monday.

Areas to the east, from southeastern Virginia to northern Florida, face the greatest risk of excessive rainfall from the storm Monday. The Weather Prediction Center expects between 1.5 and 2.5 inches of rain there, with more possible in some sections, especially northern Florida and the eastern Carolinas. As the storm system moves east, parts of the southern mid-Atlantic and southeastern states may experience gusty winds, thunderstorms and possibly tornadoes.

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