Severe storms across the Midwest caused heavy flooding and violent tornadoes, killing 5 in Arkansas and forcing residents in a Missouri town to pack up and flee to higher ground.
Arkansas Department of Emergency Management spokesman Tommy Jackson said two people died Monday in the central Arkansas town of Vilonia, where a tornado likely ripped through the area. In the state’s northwest, three people died after their vehicles were swept off the road.
Vilonia's fire chief, Keith Hillman, said 40 to 50 weren't accounted for, but he expected many simply weren't reachable. He said he didn't expect the death toll to rise significantly. Fire crews wrapped up work overnight and planned to resume early Tuesday morning.
"The town's gone," Vilonia resident Sheldon Brock said outside a gas station a few miles outside of town.
Brock told The Associated Press he was standing in his front yard and watched storms pass over his home, leaving him and his family unscathed, while strong winds and a possible tornado destroyed homes and businesses and yanked down power lines. Heavy rains sent water from nearby creeks washing over their borders.
April 25: Butler County, Mo., Sheriff Mark Dobbs stands on a levee along the Black River, right, where floodwaters were running over into adjacent farmland southeast of Poplar Bluff. The levee broke in this location during a 2008 flood. (AP Photo/Daily American Republic, Paul Davis)
Torrential rain expected to continue for several days pounded southern Missouri early Tuesday, forcing residents to flee to higher ground away from overburdened levees on the verge of breaking.
Authorities evacuated more than 1,000 homes threatened by rising floodwaters in the Missouri town of Poplar Bluff.
Heavy rains that are expected to continue for several days and saturated grounds threatened a levee holding back the Black River in Poplar Bluff. By early Tuesday morning, water from the was pouring over in more than three dozen spots, and police said a catastrophic failure of the levee was imminent.
If the levee breaks completely, many homes will be left uninhabitable. Sandbagging wasn't an option -- the river, spurred on by 10 inches or more of rain since last week, simply rose too quickly.
The Missouri National Guard sent 200 guardsmen and rescue equipment to the area. Several people had to be rescued by boat, including some who don't live in the flood plain, as heavy rain flooded several streets Monday night.
Police officers spent Monday going door-to-door in the southwest part of town, telling residents to get out. Not everyone did.
"We've got water laying around everywhere looking for somewhere to go," said David Nickell, a college instructor in Ledbetter, in western Kentucky's Livingston County, who did not plan to leave his home even though floodwaters were rapidly approaching.
Flood warnings have also prompted evacuations of hundreds of people in Indiana, Kentucky and parts of Ohio, Reuters reports.
Gov. Jay Nixon activated the Missouri National Guard on Monday to help communities threatened by flooding.
"There have been many evacuations in small pockets of populations along the Missouri/Arkansas border," Bill Davis, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Springfield.
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