Long-running storm drenches central US and starts to shift east

A flooded subdivision in Bowling Green, Ky. on Saturday, April 5, 2025. The huge storm system that has caused widespread damage across the central United States is bringing more heavy rain and high winds on Sunday, continuing its dayslong stretch of soaking communities from Texas to Ohio as it begins to move east. (Austin Anthony/The New York Times)

By Rick Rojas and Nazaneen Ghaffar

Another bout of heavy rain and high winds Sunday battered a vast stretch of the South and Midwest, increasing the risk of flooding in places where rivers had already been overflowing their banks.

But as the storm system started shifting east, residents from Texas to Ohio, wary from days of pounding storms and unsettling forecasts, were finally beginning to get a reprieve.

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. At least 16 deaths, including those of a 5-year-old boy in Arkansas, a 9-year-old boy in Kentucky and a firefighter in Missouri, have been attributed to the storm system since Wednesday. Some areas received more than 15 inches of rain over the past four days.

Residents in the region are eager for a break as the storm is expected to diminish in strength. Heavy rain and flooding are likely to ease considerably by Monday.

Yet even as the deluge subsides, other uncertainties are emerging, particularly in areas where engorged rivers and other waterways continue to rise. The Weather Prediction Center said a threat of significant to “potentially catastrophic” river flooding in the areas already hit hard by the storm would persist through the week.

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.

“Given the fact that everything is so saturated, everything is just running right off the ground and into area creeks and streams,” said Nate McGinnis, a meteorologist with the agency in Wilmington, Ohio.

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.

Another unknown is the extent of the damage, as many are waiting to assess the toll of the storm.

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.”

Eastern Mississippi, nearly all of Alabama, northwestern Georgia and eastern Tennessee are facing the brunt of the storm Sunday, according to the Weather Prediction Center.

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.

As floodwaters have risen over the weekend, emergency workers in several states, including Arkansas, Missouri and Kentucky, have been working to rescue trapped residents.

Evacuation orders were in place in several areas of Kentucky, including parts of Montgomery County, where the Kentucky River is forecast to crest at 47 feet — high enough to cause near-record flooding, officials said. Some low-lying homes in nearby Woodford County had already been inundated with 6 to 8 feet of water.

Parts of Shelbyville, Kentucky, a city of more than 17,000 people, were under mandatory evacuation orders because of flooding in the Big Blue and Little Blue rivers, local officials said. All of Falmouth, Kentucky, home to 2,500 people on the Licking River, had also been ordered to clear out.

The storm dredged up agonizing memories of previous times when the Licking River invaded Falmouth, including a 1997 flood that killed five people. That flood led to the installation of river gauges to better track water levels.

“The thought that it could be like 1997 doesn’t leave your mind,” said Debbie Dennie, a former editor of The Falmouth Outlook, a weekly newspaper with an office on Main Street. The possibility of the return of anything like that “would be devastating,” she added.

In places like Cape Girardeau, Missouri, on the Mississippi River, the worst had passed, and residents were bracing themselves for cleaning up and rebuilding. A pizzeria’s roof collapsed, and an antique shop had its windows blown out.

Sunday morning in Hopkinsville, Kentucky, was filled with the hum of motors from pumps drawing water out of downtown 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.

The past few days have been restless, he said, his anxiety rising and falling with the floodwaters.

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

He had photographs of downtown Hopkinsville from past floods displayed in his studio: 1937, 1957, 1997. A photograph from the past week will likely be added. “This is ’25 — it’s two years early,” he said.

In Anderson County, Kentucky, along the Kentucky River, Jessica Stratton said Saturday that she knew her camper was already a total loss and figured it would be washed away. She had taken the groceries she had left in her camper to Tyrone Baptist Church, where meals were being served to people who had been displaced.

“We watch and wait and make sure everyone is OK and has something to eat,” Stratton said. “I’m not leaving my people behind.”