(NEW YORK) — A four-day, once-in-a-generation weather event is pounding the middle of the U.S. with destructive tornadoes and life-threatening flooding.
Friday marks day three of the devastating storm. Here’s what you need to know:
8 deaths reported in 4 states
At least eight people have died across four states.
In Franklin County, Kentucky, a boy died after he got caught in floodwaters on Friday while walking to the school bus stop, officials said.
A second death — a local fire chief — was confirmed in Missouri. Garry Moore, 68, who was the chief of the Whitewater Fire Protection District, died in the line of duty on Wednesday, while helping a stranded motorist, according to the Missouri Highway Patrol.
Another death was confirmed in Hendricks County, Indiana, just outside of Indianapolis. A 27-year-old man was driving on Wednesday when he hit downed power lines in the road, and then he got out of his car “and came into contact with the live power lines,” the Hendricks County Sheriff’s Office said.
Another five weather-related fatalities were confirmed in Tennessee, according to state officials.
Gov. Bill Lee announced the fifth death in the state during a news conference Thursday evening, where he spoke of the “immense devastation” wrought by a powerful tornado that tore through the small city of Selmer, in the southwestern part of the state, between Memphis and Nashville.
Lee had declared a state of emergency in Tennessee, as did Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear.
“We are facing one of the most serious weather events we’ve had forecast,” Beshear warned on social media. “Please stay alert, take all precautions, and be prepared.”
Tornado threat
Since the outbreak began Wednesday, there have been at least 42 reported tornadoes from Arkansas to Ohio. This includes an EF-3 tornado in Selmer, Tennessee, with winds of 160 mph, and an EF-3 tornado in Lake City, Arkansas, with winds of 150 mph.
Matt Ziegler documented the moment the tornado hit Lake City.
“I’ve always heard that they sound like a train on a track, but to be honest with you, it was eerily quiet,” he told ABC News. “If you weren’t looking, you wouldn’t know that there was a major tornado just a field over from us.”
On Friday, there’s another moderate risk for severe weather — including damaging tornadoes — from northeast Texas to Little Rock, Arkansas, to southern Missouri.
On Saturday, the severe threat is labeled “enhanced,” with the potential for strong tornadoes from Louisiana to Tennessee.
“We are facing one of the most serious weather events we’ve had forecast,” Beshear warned on social media. “Please stay alert, take all precautions, and be prepared.”
Flash flooding threat
Since Wednesday, over 6 inches of rain has inundated Tennessee and over 4 inches of rain has fallen in Arkansas and Kentucky — and the threat isn’t over.
A massive flood watch on Friday stretches from Texarkana, Texas, to Little Rock to Memphis to Nashville to Louisville, Kentucky, to Indianapolis to Columbus, Ohio, to Fort Wayne, Indiana.
Arkansas is in the bull’s-eye on Friday, with much of the state bracing for up to 10 inches of rain.
Another high risk for flash flooding is in effect Saturday from Arkansas to Kentucky.
By the time the storm ends, rain totals could be well over 15 inches. Some cities may see record-high four-day rain totals.
Rivers, creeks and other waterways could also advance into major flood stage from Arkansas to Kentucky.
The system will finally move east Sunday afternoon, bringing rain to the Southeast on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.
(WASHINGTON) — The director of the National Security Agency, Gen. Timothy Haugh, was among the numerous officials far-right activist Laura Loomer urged President Donald Trump to remove during her official Oval Office meeting earlier this week, citing evidence of disloyalties, multiple sources tell ABC News.
In her Oval Office meeting, Loomer presented the president with printed files of research she compiled on various government officials — not only from the NSA and National Security Council, but also from other federal agencies, including the State Department, sources said. She urged the president to take action against those she claimed were disloyal or were appointed during former President Joe Biden’s administration, the sources added.
Haugh, who is the director of the NSA and also heads U.S. Cyber Command, and his civilian deputy Wendy Noble, were both removed from their positions, according to a U.S. official. Their firings came after Loomer’s meeting with the president on Wednesday.
Loomer appeared to confirm her involvement in a post on X, writing, “NSA Director Tim Haugh and his deputy Wendy Noble have been disloyal to President Trump. That is why they have been fired … Thank you President Trump for being receptive to the vetting materials provided to you and thank you for firing these Biden holdovers.”
Trump on Thursday acknowledged that Loomer has made recommendations to him and that he sometimes listens, but claimed that she was not involved in the NSC firings following their meeting on Wednesday.
“So Laura Loomer is a very good patriot. She is a very strong person, and I saw her yesterday for a little while. She makes recommendations of things and people, and sometimes I listen to those recommendations, like I do with everybody. I listen to everybody, and then I make a decision,” Trump said.
In a separate post Thursday night, Loomer said she reported names of “disloyal people” in the NSC to Trump. On Friday, she wrote on X that she planned to release “more names of individuals who should not be in the Trump administration due to their questionable loyalty & past attacks on President Trump.”
Asked about these recent X posts from Loomer, the White House referred ABC News to Trump’s previous comments about her making recommendations.
Loomer’s involvement comes after weeks of both public and private pressure, sources said, as she raised concerns about the administration’s vetting process and the inclusion of officials she perceives as disloyal to the president.
Loomer has frequently spread misinformation. In July, she claimed in a social media post, without citing evidence, that President Joe Biden had a medical emergency after landing at Joint Base Andrews.
She had also started unsubstantiated claims about family members of Judge Juan Merchan in Trump’s New York hush money case, including that his daughter posted a fake photo of Trump in jail on social media, which the court has denied. It prompted Trump to share Loomer’s posts and spread the rumors.
(LOS ANGELES) — A man is at large after he allegedly gunned down his estranged girlfriend and her daughter in their car, authorities said.
Donte Lamont Brown, 41, of Compton, is considered armed and dangerous, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department warned.
La’von Hall and her daughter, Ma’Laysia Martin, were stopped at a traffic light in Compton around 7 p.m. on Tuesday when Brown allegedly drove up alongside their car and shot them, according to the sheriff’s department.
After Hall was shot, she got out of the driver’s seat and fell to the ground, authorities said. Her car kept moving until it struck a pole.
Responders found Hall lying on the ground and Martin in the passenger seat, the sheriff’s department said. The mother and daughter both died at the scene, authorities said.
“Detectives have exhausted all leads” in their search for Brown and are asking for the public’s help to find him, the sheriff’s department said.
Anyone with information is urged to call the sheriff’s department at 323-890-5500 or call Crime Stoppers anonymously at 800-222-TIPS (8477).
Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — As markets nosedived and foreign allies recoiled after the unveiling of sweeping tariffs to be imposed by the U.S., President Donald Trump said he was looking toward the future impact of his levies.
In the case of manufacturing growth, a key administration interest in imposing a 10% levy on all trade partners and significantly higher tariffs on certain nations such as China, Trump said it could take years.
“Let’s say it’s a two-year process,” Trump said when asked by a reporter on Thursday how long it will take to get the industry where he wants to see it.
“You know, they start a plant, and they’re big plants We’re giving them approval to also, in many cases, to build the electric facility with it,” he continued. “So, you have electric generation and the plant, and they’re big plants. Now, the good news is a lot of money for them, and they can build them fast, but they’re still very big plants. I’d always say it would take a year-and-a-half to two years.”
Meanwhile, Trump brushed off concerns about the short-term pain economists expect to be passed on to American consumers.
“It’s to be expected where this is a patient that was very sick,” Trump said, comparing his economic policies to surgery.
“It’s going to be a booming country, a very booming country,” the president said.
Trump’s tariff plan, announced in the White House Rose Garden on Wednesday, includes a baseline 10% tariff against all U.S. trade partners and steeper, more targeted levies against nations that place duties on U.S. imports.
Jay Timmons, the chief executive of the National Association of Manufacturers, released a statement on Wednesday night criticizing the rollout.
“Needless to say, today’s announcement was complicated, and manufacturers are scrambling to determine the exact implications for their operations,” Timmons said.
Timmons, who oversees the country’s largest manufacturing trade association, said the administration should instead make inputs that manufacturers use to produce products in the U.S. tariff-free and try to negotiate “zero-for-zero” tariffs for American-made goods in foreign markets.
“The stakes for manufacturers could not be higher,” he said. “Many manufacturers in the United States already operate with thin margins,” he added, and “the high costs of new tariffs threaten investment, jobs, supply chains and, in turn, America’s ability to outcompete other nations and lead as the preeminent manufacturing superpower.”
Fallout continued on Friday to Trump’s tariff plan. China hit back with retaliatory tariffs of their own: a 34% levy on all U.S. goods. Markets slipped further in early trading, after recording their worst day since June 2020 on Thursday.
Trump on Thursday signaled an openness to negotiation, despite White House officials throughout the day denying any chance of bargaining on the tariffs.
Then on Friday morning, Trump appeared to only double down, writing on his social media site: “MY POLICIES WILL NEVER CHANGE.”
(MADISON, Wis.) — Two people are missing after a boat capsized on the Wisconsin River on Thursday, according to the Wisconsin Dells Police Department.
At approximately 4:24 p.m. on Thursday, police received reports that a “boat had capsized on the Wisconsin River, south of the Kilbourn Dam,” which is an hour north of Madison, police said.
Three people were in the boat at the time of the incident, with one being able to “safely swim to shore,” police said. The recovered boater was met by police and rescue units and handed over to medical services for treatment, officials said.
The two other boaters were not seen after “disappearing under the water, near where the boat had capsized,” police said.
Rescue boats were launched on Thursday to begin searching for the missing individuals, police said. Officials also requested the assistance of dive teams, but “due to the high flow of water from the Kilbourn Dam and the fast-moving currents” divers were not able to commence their search.
Aerial and underwater drones, shoreline searchers and boats with sonar capabilities were also deployed for the search, police said.
Officials suspended the search on Thursday evening due to the “unpredictable flow of the river” but said efforts will continue Friday morning.
The names of the missing individuals are not being released at this time, police said.
(NEW YORK) — U.S. stocks continued their slide in early trading on Friday, just hours after China announced retaliatory tariffs in response to President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” levies.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted 925 points, or 2.25%, while the S&P 500 dropped 2.4%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq declined 3%.
On Friday, China said it will impose 34% tariffs in response to the levies issued by Trump earlier this week.
In a social media post hours later, Trump signaled a commitment to the tariff policy.
“TO THE MANY INVESTORS COMING INTO THE UNITED STATES AND INVESTING MASSIVE AMOUNTS OF MONEY, MY POLICIES WILL NEVER CHANGE,” Trump said on Truth Social.
All three major American stock markets closed down on Thursday, marking their worst day since June 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The NASDAQ fell 6%, the S&P 500 4.8% and the Dow Jones nearly 4%
Global markets gave early signals of the difficulty to come on Friday. Japan’s Nikkei index lost 3.5% on Friday, while the broader Japanese Topix index fell 4.45%.
In South Korea, the KOSPI index was down 1.7%, with the country grappling with both Trump’s tariffs and the news that South Korea’s Constitutional Court upheld the impeachment of President Yoon Suk Yeol.
Indian investors joined the sell-off on Friday, with the Nifty 50 and BSE Sensex indexes both falling more than 1%. India’s stock markets had previously performed better than others thanks to lower tariffs than competitors like China, Indonesia and Vietnam.
Australia’s S&P/ASX, meanwhile, continued its slide into Friday with another 2% drop taking the index to an 8-month low.
In Europe, too, stock markets fell upon opening. Britain’s FTSE 100 index dropped more than 1%, Germany’s DAX fell 0.75%, France’s CAC lost 0.9% and Spain’s IBEX slipped 1.4%.
Trump’s Wednesday announcement of tariffs on nearly all American trade partners sent U.S. and foreign markets alike into a tailspin.
ABC News’ Leah Sarnoff, Max Zahn, Victor Ordoñez and Zunaira Zaki contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — U.S. hiring surged in March, blowing past economists’ expectations and defying concern on Wall Street about a possible economic recession, government data on Friday showed.
The fresh data offered news of an upsurge in employer activity as stocks suffered a second day of selloffs over sweeping new tariffs announced by President Donald Trump earlier this week.
The U.S. added 228,000 jobs in March, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. That figure amounted to robust hiring and marked a major increase from 151,000 jobs added in the previous month.
The unemployment rate ticked up slightly to 4.2%, but it remains historically low.
The uptick in hiring last month came despite staff cuts imposed by the federal government amid cost-cutting efforts undertaken by the Department of Government Efficiency.
Federal government employment declined by 4,000 jobs in March, following a dropoff of 11,000 jobs the previous month.
The job gains came primarily in health care, transportation and warehousing.
Average hourly wages climbed 3.8% over the year ending in March, indicating that pay increases outpaced the inflation rate over that period.
Despite escalating trade tensions and market turbulence since Trump took office in January, the economy remains in solid shape by several key measures.
The unemployment rate stands at a historically low level. Meanwhile, inflation sits well below a peak attained in 2022, though price increases register nearly a percentage point higher than the Fed’s goal of 2%.
“The economy is strong,” Fed Chair Jerome Powell said at a press conference in Washington, D.C., last month.
Tariffs announced earlier this week, however, threaten to derail hiring and worsen inflation, multiple analysts previously told ABC News.
The far-reaching levies increase the likelihood of a recession by driving up prices, sapping consumer spending, slowing business activity and risking layoffs, they said.
The White House plans to slap a 10% tax on all imported products and place additional duties on items from some of the largest U.S. trading partners, including China and the European Union.
“These policies, if sustained, would likely push the U.S. and global economy into recession this year,” J.P. Morgan said in a note to clients after the tariff announcement.
“Recession risks will likely rise,” Deutsche Bank added.
U.S. stocks plunged on Thursday in the first trading session after Trump unveiled the new tariffs.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted 1,679 points, or nearly 4%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq declined almost 6%.
The S&P 500 tumbled 4.8%, marking its worst trading day since 2020.
(NEW YORIK) — About 10,000 people across the United States Department of Health and Human Services were laid off this week as part of a massive restructuring plan.
In a post on X on Tuesday afternoon, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said the layoffs represented “a difficult moment for all of us” but that “we must shift course” because Americans are “getting sicker every year.”
An official at the National Institutes of Health with knowledge on the matter, who asked not to be named, told ABC News that the layoffs were an “HHS-wide bloodbath,” with entire offices being fired.
Sources told ABC News that affected offices included a majority of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Office on Smoking and Health, key offices in the Center for Tobacco Products, most of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, and the entire assisted reproductive technology team at the CDC.
Then, Kennedy told ABC News on Thursday that some programs would soon be reinstated because they were mistakenly cut.
In a video statement posted on X prior to the layoffs, Kennedy said that he plans to bring to the agency a “clear sense of mission to radically improve the health of Americans and to improve agency morale.”
In the six-minute clip, Kennedy claimed that the U.S. is the “sickest nation in the world,” with rates of chronic disease and cancer increasing dramatically and the lifespan of Americans dropping — though Kennedy did not present any data in his video to support those claims.
Smoking and the use of tobacco products contribute to both chronic disease and cancer — and the offices tackling those issues are among those that were gutted in Kennedy’s recent moves.
While Kennedy is correct in his statement that some chronic disease and cancer rates have risen, public health experts said — and data shows — that the country has made great progress tackling illnesses, including driving down cancer mortality rates, and that life expectancy is on the rise.
“Gutting the public health system while claiming to fight disease is a dangerous contradiction,” said Dr. John Brownstein, an epidemiologist and chief innovation officer at Boston Children’s Hospital, as well as a contributor for ABC News.
“We should be focusing on strengthening – not stripping – the public health system if we’re serious about tackling chronic disease,” Brownstein continued. “Dismantling key infrastructure will only set us back in the fight to keep Americans healthy.”
American life expectancy increasing
In a post on X, Dr. Ashish Jha, the White House COVID-19 response coordinator from 2022 to 2023, said Kennedy was incorrect in his statement about Americans getting sicker.
“So much of what is in here is incorrect,” he wrote. “Americans are NOT getting sicker every year. After a devastating pandemic, life expectancy is beginning to rise again.”
Between 2022 and 2023, age-adjusted death rates decreased for nine of the leading causes of death in the U.S., according to a December 2024 report from the CDC.
This includes decreasing death rates from heart disease, unintentional injuries, stroke, chronic lower respiratory diseases, Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, kidney disease, chronic liver disease and cirrhosis, and COVID-19.
Additionally, age-specific death rates dropped from 2022 to 2023 for all age groups ages 5 and older, the CDC report found.
The report also found life expectancy in the U.S. is beginning to rise again after it dropped in every U.S. state during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Life expectancy in 2023 hit its highest level since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the CDC report. Data showed life expectancy for the U.S. population was 78.4 years in 2023, an increase of 0.9 years from 2022.
The drop in age-adjusted death rates was largely attributed to decreases in mortality from COVID-19, heart disease, unintentional injuries and diabetes.
“Claims that Americans are getting sicker every year simply don’t hold up,” Brownstein told ABC News. “Life expectancy is rising again post-pandemic, and we’ve seen declines in cancer, cardiovascular and overdose mortality.”
Obesity rising in children, decreasing in adults
Kennedy has said he wants to tackle the obesity epidemic, including childhood obesity.
Research does show that obesity is rising in children in the U.S. and is occurring at younger ages, with approximately one in five children and teens in the U.S. having obesity, according to the CDC.
A 2022 study from Emory University that studied data from 1998 through 2016 found that childhood obesity among kindergarten through fifth-grade students has become more severe, putting more children at risk of health consequences.
However, Jha pointed out in his post on X that “even obesity rates have plateaued and are beginning to turn down” in adults.
For the first time in over a decade, adult obesity rates in the U.S. may be trending downward, with numbers dropping slightly from 46% in 2022 to 45.6% in 2023, according to a study published in JAMA Health Forum in December 2024.
The study reviewed the body mass index, a generally accepted method of estimating obesity, of 16.7 million U.S. adults over a 10-year period. The average BMI rose annually during that period to 30.24, which is considered obese, until it plateaued in 2022, then dropped marginally to 30.21 in 2023.
“Recent research I co-authored in JAMA shows that obesity rates in adults have plateaued and are even starting to trend downward,” said Brownstein, a co-author of the study. “That progress reflects the very kind of long-term public health investment this reorg puts at risk.”
Chronic disease on the rise
Kennedy has made tackling chronic diseases a cornerstone of his “Make America Healthy Again” platform.
Over the past two decades, the prevalence of chronic conditions has been steadily increasing, according to a 2024 study conducted by researchers in Iowa, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Texas.
“An increasing proportion of people in America are dealing with multiple chronic conditions; 42% have [two] or more, and 12% have at least [five],” the authors wrote.
However, the study also found that the prevalence of chronic disease varies by geographic location and socioeconomic status. Residents who live in areas with the highest prevalence of chronic disease also face a number of contributing social, economic and environmental barriers, the study found.
A 2022 study from the CDC found chronic diseases linked to cigarette smoking include respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, as well as cancers and diabetes.
Rates of cancer have ‘increased dramatically’
Kennedy is correct in stating that cancer rates in the U.S. have increased, with incidence rates rising for 17 cancer types in younger generations, according to a 2024 joint study from the American Cancer Society, Cancer Care Alberta and the University of Calgary.
There has been a notable increase in incidence rates for many cancer types among women and younger adults, research shows.
Incidence rates among women between ages 50 and 64 have surpassed those among men, according to a 2025 report published in the journal of the American Cancer Society.
Additionally, cancer rates among women under age 50 are 82% higher than among men under age 50, which is up from 51% in 2002, the report found.
However, while cancer incidence has increased, cancer mortality has decreased.
A 2025 report from the American Cancer Society found that age-adjusted cancer death rates have dropped from a peak in 1991 by 34% as of 2022, largely due to reductions in smoking, advances in treatment and early detection for some cancers.
However, there is more work to be done and disparities still persist. For example, Native Americans have the highest cancer death rates of any racial or ethnic group in the U.S.
Additionally, Black Americans have a two-fold higher mortality rate than white Americans for prostate, stomach and uterine corpus cancers, the latter of which is a cancer of the lining of the uterus.
Dr. Jay-Sheree Allen Akambase is a family medicine and preventive medicine physician at the Mayo Clinic and a member of the ABC News Medical Unit.
ABC News’ Dr. Niki Iranpour, Cheyenne Haslett and Will McDuffie contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — Wendy Brugh, owner of Dry Ridge Farm in Marshall, North Carolina, said President Donald Trump’s tariffs announcement is like “pouring salt in a wound that is just now beginning to heal.”
During a gathering of small business owners on Wednesday, she said tariffs will increase the costs of “everything from fertilizer and feed to construction materials and tractors,” hitting the farming community while it still recovers from crop losses after Hurricane Helene.
“We’re personally faced with the uncertainty of how retaliatory tariffs will affect our largest expense, our animal feed,” Brugh told ABC News’ Asheville affiliate WLOS.
Brugh and other small business owners are weighing in on the tariffs Trump unveiled against virtually all U.S. trading partners on Wednesday afternoon. He described the tariffs as “kind reciprocal” and will focus on nations he claimed were the worst offenders in trade relations with the U.S.
The new measures — which Trump described as “historic” — include a minimum baseline tariff of 10% on all trading partners and further, more targeted punitive levies on certain countries, including China, the European Union and Taiwan.
“We will charge them approximately half of what they are and have been charging us,” he said, adding, “because we are being very kind.”
Hendrick Svendsen, the owner of a furniture store in Merriam, Kansas, told ABC News on Wednesday he has decided to close his store due to Trump’s tariffs announcement.
“We just made the decision we are going to close down, we will be out in August,” Svendsen said.
He said there is no way to continue the store’s operation by using American-made products, with 90% of their items made overseas.
“I don’t think that furniture manufacturing is ever going to come back to the U.S. North Carolina, where it used to be made, it’s like a ghost town,” Svendsen said on ABC News Live. “When it comes to skill and workers, I don’t think we have that in the U.S.”
Furniture manufacturing jobs in the United States have declined over the past few months, with 336,900 reported in February, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
But, there are individuals who are optimistic about the tariffs, including Duane Paddock, the owner of a Chevrolet dealership in Buffalo, New York. He told ABC News Live that he has seen the best sales in 13 years.
While he is uncertain of the exact impact of the tariffs, he said he is hopeful that Trump’s announcement is the “best thing for our country” and that his dealership will continue to “keep prices as low as possible and do our fair share to help the customers.”
“Whether President Trump was a Democrat or Republican, I have to have faith in my president and that’s what I choose to do,” Paddock said.
He also stressed the importance of these tariffs allowing for products to be made in the United States.
“It’s a great opportunity for people to get back with manufacturing and have an opportunity to have a great middle-class life and increase their compensation over the course of time,” Paddock said.
But Leah Ashburn, the president and CEO of Highland Brewing in North Carolina, said moving to American production is not feasible in all industries, especially her company, which relies on aluminum to make beer cans. While there are existing aluminum manufacturers in the United States, Canada is still the fourth-largest primary aluminum provider, behind China, India and Russia, according to the Canadian government.
In 2021, the United States accounted for less than 2% of global aluminum production, according to a Congressional Research Service Report.
“The U.S. simply can’t pivot to making aluminum cans,” Ashburn told WLOS. “Mining is not done here. Aluminum is 95% brought in from other countries, and we are dependent on Canada. The effort to make aluminum here would be complex, costly and take a lot of time. It won’t come soon enough.”
She also said her business cannot raise their prices because consumers have “hit their limit on what they’re going to pay for a six-pack.”
The 10% baseline tariff rate goes into effect on April 5, according to senior White House officials. The “kind reciprocal” tariffs go into effect April 9 at 12:01 a.m., officials said, and will affect roughly 60 countries.
ABC News’ Jaclyn Lee, Alexandra Hutzler, Lauren Lantry and Michael Pappano contributed to this report
(NEW YORK) — A four-day, once-in-a-generation weather event is pounding the middle of the U.S. with destructive tornadoes and life-threatening flooding.
Friday marks day three of the devastating storm. Here’s what you need to know:
7 deaths reported in 3 state
At least seven people have died across three states
One death — a local fire chief — was confirmed in Missouri. Garry Moore, 68, who was the chief of the Whitewater Fire Protection District, died in the line of duty, possibly while helping a stranded motorist, according to the Missouri Highway Patrol.
Another death was confirmed in Hendricks County, Indiana, just outside of Indianapolis. A 27-year-old man was driving when he hit downed power lines in the road, and then he got out of his car “and came into contact with the live power lines,” the Hendricks County Sheriff’s Office said.
Another five weather-related fatalities were confirmed in Tennessee, according to state officials.
Gov. Bill Lee announced the fifth death in the state during a news conference Thursday evening, where he spoke of the “immense devastation” wrought by a powerful tornado that tore through the small city of Selmer, in the southwestern part of the state, between Memphis and Nashville.
Lee had declared a state of emergency in Tennessee, as did Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear.
“We are facing one of the most serious weather events we’ve had forecast,” Beshear warned on social media. “Please stay alert, take all precautions, and be prepared.”
Tornado threat
Since the outbreak began Wednesday, there have been at least 42 reported tornadoes from Arkansas to Ohio. This includes an EF-3 tornado in Selmer, Tennessee, with winds of 160 mph, and an EF-3 tornado in Lake City, Arkansas, with winds of 150 mph.
Matt Ziegler documented the moment the tornado hit Lake City.
“I’ve always heard that they sound like a train on a track, but to be honest with you, it was eerily quiet,” he told ABC News. “If you weren’t looking, you wouldn’t know that there was a major tornado just a field over from us.”
On Friday, there’s another moderate risk for severe weather — including damaging tornadoes — from northeast Texas to Little Rock, Arkansas, to southern Missouri.
On Saturday, the severe threat is labeled “enhanced,” with the potential for strong tornadoes from Louisiana to Tennessee.
“We are facing one of the most serious weather events we’ve had forecast,” Beshear warned on social media. “Please stay alert, take all precautions, and be prepared.”
Flash flooding threat
Since Wednesday, over 6 inches of rain has inundated Tennessee and over 4 inches of rain has fallen in Arkansas and Kentucky — and the threat isn’t over.
A massive flood watch on Friday stretches from Texarkana, Texas, to Little Rock to Memphis to Nashville to Louisville, Kentucky, to Indianapolis to Columbus, Ohio, to Fort Wayne, Indiana.
Arkansas is in the bull’s-eye on Friday, with much of the state bracing for up to 10 inches of rain.
Another high risk for flash flooding is in effect Saturday from Arkansas to Kentucky.
By the time the storm ends, rain totals could be well over 15 inches. Some cities may see record-high four-day rain totals. Rivers, creeks and other waterways could also advance into major flood stage from Arkansas to Kentucky.
The system will finally move east Sunday afternoon, bringing rain to the Southeast on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.
