Areas across the Southeastern United States reported flooding from the remnants of Tropical Storm Arthur and other weather systems, with more flash floods expected Monday from Alabama to parts of the East Coast.
In Smith County in central Mississippi, emergency crews made four rescues of people trapped in rising waters after days of heavy rains caused creeks and rivers to overflow, WLBT news reported.
On the Mississippi Gulf Coast, part of a dam in Harrison County gave way after heavy rainfall. A mobile home park in Perkinston was inundated, and a road crew worker was killed during a debris cleanup in Franklin County, The Weather Channel noted.
Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves declared an emergency for 10 counties in the south and central parts of the state.
“Mississippi has experienced continuous heavy rainfall, strong winds, and widespread flooding associated with Tropical Storm Arthur,” Reeves said in a statement Friday. “We are now forecasted to see additional heavy rainfall in the affected areas of our state. Therefore, I have declared a State of Emergency in areas of Mississippi affected or potentially affected by these storms.”
The declaration will help mobilize emergency response and disaster relief aid.
The National Weather Service last week issued a flash flood emergency alert for part of Pearl River County in southwest Mississippi.
Roads from Mississippi to the Florida Panhandle to Kentucky were under water or were closed, news sites reported.
AccuWeather noted that some of the same areas drenched by Arthur last week will again face flash flooding risks as new thunderstorms move through the upper Southeast on Monday, from Arkansas through Virginia. North Alabama counties were expected to see scattered thunderstorms, new sites reported.
Arthur was the first tropical storm of the season in the Atlantic basin, and although it was downgraded within a day of forming, the lingering system created dangerous conditions in Louisiana and Mississippi, the Associated Press reported. In one rural Louisiana parish, more than two feet of rain fell in 48 hours and most of that came Thursday, said Donald Jones, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Lake Charles.
At least three people have died from the flooding, according to news reports.
People posted social media images of flooding in south Mississippi, trees on the Biloxi, along with trees down in the Carolinas, the New York Times noted.
U-Haul announced that 84 of its storage centers in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama were offering 30 days of free self-storage and U-Box containers for area residents who have been flooded in recent days.
Photo: Part of Kenner, Louisiana, on June 18. (David Grunfeld/The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate via AP)
Topics
Flood
Windstorm
Interested in Flood?
Get automatic alerts for this topic.
