US storms, ‘severe’ flooding death toll climbs to 16

Kathmandu: Violent storms battering the central-eastern United States have killed at least 16 people.

The National Weather Service issued a warning on Saturday of “severe” flash flooding in the coming days. A line of fierce storms stretching from Arkansas to Ohio has damaged buildings, flooded roadways and produced dozens of tornadoes in recent days.

According to state Governor Andy Beshear, Tennessee was hardest hit by the extreme weather, with state authorities saying on Saturday that 10 people died across the western part of the state. 2 people were killed due to floods in Kentucky,  including a child who was “swept away by floodwaters.”

Photos shared on social and local media showed widespread damage from the storm across several states, with homes torn apart, toppled trees, downed power lines and overturned cars.  ‘Severe, widespread flash flooding is expected” into Sunday in parts of the central-eastern region, said the National Weather Service (NWS).

According to local media reports and authorities, lives and property are in great danger. Two storm-related deaths were recorded in Missouri and one in Indiana.  ‘A five-year-old was found dead in a home in Little Rock, Arkansas, “in connection to the ongoing severe weather, said the state’s emergency management agency in a statement.

‘Flooding has reached record levels in many communities,’ Kentucky’s Governor Beshear wrote on social media Saturday, urging residents in the state to “avoid travel, and never drive through water.’

According to the tracking website PowerOutage.us. More than 100,000 customers were without power in Arkansas and Tennessee as of early Sunday.

The NWS on Saturday said that moderate to severe tornadoes could form in parts of the Tennessee Valley and Lower Mississippi Valley on Sunday, along with severe thunderstorms.

Scientists said global warming is disrupting climate patterns and the water cycle, making extreme weather more frequent and ferocious.

Last year set a record for high temperatures in the United States, with the country also pummeled by a barrage of tornadoes and destructive hurricanes.

RSS/AFP