|
Storms sweep southern Midwest, 10 dead
2006-09-23
Severe storms crossing the southern U.S. Midwest produced heavy rains, hail and flooding and caused at least 10 deaths, local officials said on Saturday. The storms Friday and Saturday dumped more than 10 inches of rain in southeast Missouri and stretched into northeastern Kentucky, the National Weather Service said. The heaviest flooding occurred in the Ohio River Valley and central portions of the Mississippi River Valley, said Beth Lewandowski of DTN/Meteorlogix. The National Weather Service said there were 37 preliminary tornado reports around the region and one confirmed tornado in Phelps County, Missouri, since the storms began Friday. In northeast Arkansas, several people caught in fast-rising flood waters survived by clinging to trees along the Spring River near Hardy. "The water just rose so fast, there were several individuals rescued from trees in that area," Sharp County emergency dispatcher Tamara Roberts said. "They were basically going for help and got swept down the river," she said. In northwest Arkansas, a 51-year-old woman was struck and killed by lightning late Friday while in a fishing boat on a small lake. Nine people died in Kentucky, including two women who fell into a drainage ditch in Lexington, emergency officials said. Another woman was killed in Jessamine County, Kentucky, when her pickup truck was swept off a road and overturned in a creek, county officials said. Two passengers escaped harm. News reports said another motorist died after skidding off a highway near Elizabethtown, Kentucky.
| 
