Another winter storm will hit the United States this week and will bring snow to Kentucky, after the state was hit with devastating flooding over the weekend that killed 12 and prompted over 1,000 rescues.
Winter alerts were in place for 34 million people from the central Plains to West Virginia on Monday.
This storm moved across the Rockies and began producing snow across the central Plains on Monday, and will bring moderate to heavy snow to Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Arkansas by Tuesday. A stripe of ice will also be possible from northern Texas into Arkansas.
The storm system will bring snow to Kentucky late Tuesday, and Tennessee and into Virginia and North Carolina on Wednesday. It’ll move off the coast by Thursday.
The storm will have two pockets of enhanced snowfall: the first across the central Plains and southern Missouri, where 6 to 12 inches could fall, and the second across southeastern Virginia and northern North Carolina.
Last week, a flood watch warning was issued for much of Kentucky early Thursday, followed by heavy rains and flooding over the weekend that prompted evacuations, submerged neighborhoods, triggered mud and rockslides, forced water rescues and knocked out power and water.
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said at a storm briefing Monday that the weekend’s heavy rain and floods had affected the entire the state, calling it “one of the most challenging weather events we have faced.”
He announced the storm death toll rose to 12 since Sunday night.
A significant number of the deaths involved people who drove through standing or running water, he said.
The eastern part of Kentucky, which includes Pike County, was hardest hit in the floods.
Pike County Judge and Executive Ray Jones said at an afternoon news conference that three people died in the floods in the county. However, the number could rise as people are still missing. He said hundreds of structures — both residential and business — were damaged.
“We will dig out, we will muck out, we’ll rebuild every single structure that’s here and we’ll make sure there’s a bright future for Pike County,” Beshear said.
At a morning storm briefing, Beshear said Kentucky still has standing water in different areas and over 300 roads were still affected and closed. He said the state is still in the search and rescue phase of the emergency, with people still in harm’s way.
He said there was daily record rainfall in Frankfort, Paducah, Bowling Green, Jackson and London, and major flooding in the Green, Rolling Fork and Kentucky Rivers.
Over 12,000 customers remained without power as of Monday afternoon, according to PowerOutage.Us, over 17,000 were without water, and over 28,000 were under a boil water advisory. Kentucky State Police responded to over 6,000 calls for service since Saturday.
The National Weather Service in Louisville, Kentucky, warned that the “impactful winter storm” arrives late Tuesday and will last through Wednesday evening. The weather service said 2 to 6 inches of snow accumulation is possible, along with slick road conditions, and disruptions to recovery efforts from the floods.
“From Tuesday night to Wednesday night we have another weather event coming into the commonwealth,” Beshear said Monday. “Unfortunately, right now it is for most all of the commonwealth, save for parts of northern Kentucky. What this means is water that’s out there — we still have a lot — can freeze. We’re going to see black ice in different places during both the days and nights.”
Current models forecast the heaviest snow could fall in eastern Kentucky, potentially dropping 3 to 6 inches there.
“It means we’re going to have to make sure we’ve got everyone displaced because of this flooding in a warm place for the days that are coming ahead,” Beshear said.
The governor said Sunday that President Donald Trump had approved his request for disaster relief funding. He said Monday the state will apply for individual relief from Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Locals are warned not to cross flooded roadways and never drive around barricades as water rescue operations continue. Twelve emergency shelters are open. As of Monday, 143 people are currently being sheltered at four Kentucky State Parks occupying a total of 72 rooms.
Meanwhile, a cold outbreak also has 55 million people from the Canadian border down to central Texas under cold alerts.
On Monday morning, wind chills were as cold as 30 to 50 below zero across Montana, Minnesota and the Dakotas. The Great Lakes and Upper Midwest also woke up to wind chills of 10 to 20 below zero.
