Cindy’s remnants: Street flooding from South to the Midwest
NASHVILLE — Rain bands reeling away from Tropical Depression Cindy spread drenching rains from the Southeast to the Midwest, triggering flash flood warnings over several states including West Virginia, whose residents on Friday marked the anniversary of deadly floods last June.
The storms stretching for hundreds of miles (kilometres) are expected to push river levels higher in coming days as the remnants of a tropical storm cross Tennessee and Kentucky into West Virginia. The severe weather, which was blamed for recent coastal flooding in the Deep South, tornadoes and one death, is rumbling closer to the densely populated East Coast.
The National Weather Service said Friday afternoon that Cindy was winding down and had lost tropical characteristics as heavy rain potential moved east across the Ohio Valley and into Pennsylvania with severe thunderstorms forming to the south.
Weather service forecasters said rainfall totals of 2-4 inches (50-100 millimeters) were possible in several states, with up to 6 inches (150 millimeters) in isolated spots. Flash flood watches were issued for much of Kentucky and West Virginia. Last June, torrential rains in West Virginia claimed 23 lives and memories of that disaster remained fresh at sombre ceremonies honouring the dead.