Torrential rainfall and “life-threatening" flooding turned deadly in Florida’s panhandle late Tuesday - the latest fallout from a monster weather system that has killed at least 35 people in six states.
Tornado warnings were issued in several states early Wednesday, as the slow-moving storm continued to bring high winds and thunderstorms to the Deep South. Virginia and South Carolina were most at risk, according to The Weather Channel's Kevin Roth.
More than 24 inches of rain fell in a 26-hour period in Pensacola, Fla., washing away bridges and closing mile after mile of highways across the region, leaving drivers stranded.
In Alabama, much of downtown Mobile was flooded and a reverse 911 was sent to residents at Fish River, near Silverhill, where water levels were at their highest for 60 years.
More than five inches fell on Pensacola in the single hour between 9 p.m. and 10 p.m. CT (10 p.m. and 11 p.m. ET) Tuesday, the NWS said.
"That's more than the city got in the whole of Hurricane Ivan," Weather Channel meteorologist Kevin Roth said.
Interstate 10 was closed for several miles from the Alabama border after a raging torrent of water made it impassible, trapping motorists for several hours.
Aaron Gallagher of the Florida Division of Emergency Management said early Wednesday that Florida Highway Patrol officers were still checking on stranded drivers and did not yet have an estimate on the number of people stuck on the road.
There was no respite in sight, Roth said, as the storm was forecast to stay in the area - unleashing many more hours of rain.
A local state of emergency was declared in Escambia County. “We have been emphatically pleading with people to stay off the roadways,” said Escambia County spokesman spokesman Bill Pearson, who said reports of a second fatality were “unconfirmed.”
Pearson said emergency officials had described it was the worst flooding they had seen in 30 years.
Roth said the rainfall was "most likely" record-setting but a suspected lightning strike has knocked out Pensacola's NWS reporting station.
Tuesday was Mobile's fifth-wettest day in 143 years, the NWS said. The city's fire department responded to more than 20 reports of motorists stranded by flood waters.
Police and fire officials in Farmville, N.C., undertook 10 "water rescues" of motorists in stranded vehicles and evacuated residents of several homes as floodwaters of 2½ to 3 feet cascaded down city streets, Police Chief Donnie Greene told NBC station WITN of Winston-Salem.
In all, The Weather Channel reported that 75 million people were at risk for severe weather on Tuesday.
First published April 30 2014, 12:25 AM
Source: Top Stories - Google News - http://ift.tt/1lxZ2Gc
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