Cindy Expected to Drench TN, KY & WV

Cindy Expected to Drench TN, KY & WV

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) -- Forecasters expect remnants of Tropical Depression Cindy to drench parts of Tennessee, Kentucky and West Virginia on Friday, bringing heavy rainfall, possible flash flooding and higher river and lake levels through the weekend.

The severe weather was arriving on the anniversary of torrential rains and flooding that left 23 people dead in West Virginia last year.

National Weather Service officials in the three states said rainfall totals of 2 to 4 inches (50 to 100 millimeters) were expected, with isolated amounts up to 6 inches (150 millimeters). Flash flood watches were in effect in much of Kentucky.

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"We should have a comfortable weekend coming up if we can just get through tonight and tomorrow," Greg Meffert, lead forecaster in the Paducah office, said Thursday evening.

Crews in Memphis, Tennessee, worked Thursday to clear storm drains to help prevent street flooding.

The Tennessee Emergency Management Agency will be staffing its operations center in Nashville on Friday and Saturday to coordinate any requests for assistance.

The West Virginia Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management held briefings for emergency managers statewide Thursday, with another scheduled Friday morning, spokesman Lawrence Messina said. County and local officials can send the division situation reports or requests for help as needed, he said.

On Thursday afternoon, West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice signed a new law to coordinate the state's flood mitigation and response efforts with a new state resiliency office. It also establishes a new legislative committee with oversight.

A suspected tornado near Birmingham, Alabama, flattened businesses and injured one person Thursday, while the mayor of the coastal Louisiana town of Lafitte urged residents to evacuate ahead of a rising tide — two lingering effects of the weakening system that fueled harsh weather across the Southeast.

Meanwhile, the Gulf Coast was still suffering from the effects of Cindy, a former tropical storm in the Gulf of Mexico that crawled ashore early Thursday near the Louisiana-Texas state line. Downgraded to a tropical depression, Cindy weakened as it crossed Louisiana toward Arkansas but a broad circulation around the system swept moist Gulf air over the South, fueling severe weather and pushing up coastal tides.

As a slow-moving tropical storm that formed Tuesday in the Gulf, Cindy was blamed for one death. Nolan McCabe, 10, of St. Louis, Missouri, was vacationing with his family on the Alabama coast when he was hit by a log washed in by a large wave. Cindy also caused widespread coastal highway and street flooding and several short-lived tornadoes, but no other deaths.

(KA)

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