Story highlights
NEW: Nashville flooding prompts many rescues, lifts business off foundation
Parts of 21 states are under some type of flood watch or warning Friday
Southeast Kansas and southern Missouri have an extreme flooding risk
More than 2 inches of rain may fall quickly in Ohio, West Virginia and Kentucky
Floodwater in Oklahoma swept away and killed a man who was trying to save his daughter from a stranded vehicle early Friday, adding to the toll from flooding and storms plaguing a number of states this week.
The 60-year-old man was washed away by fast-moving floodwater that had rapidly appeared in Oklahoma City overnight, city police Lt. Gamille Hardin said. The man’s body was found Friday morning.
His daughter had been stuck in a vehicle surrounded by rapidly rising water, Hardin said.
Storm systems continue to hammer states with drenching rain and significant flash flooding. Of particular concern Friday are parts of southeast Kansas and southern Missouri, which have seen up to 10 inches of rain this week, with more expected over the weekend.
These areas are at extreme risk for flooding into Saturday morning, the National Weather Service said.
In all, parts of 21 states in the Northwest, Plains, Midwest, Southeast and Northeast were under some sort of flood warning or watch Friday morning.
They include parts of Ohio, West Virginia and Kentucky, where forecasters say more than 2 inches of rain may fall in a short period of time Friday.
One to 2 inches of rain are on the way to an area from Pennsylvania to Maine in the Northeast, where 1 to 3 inches of rain already have fallen this week.
In Nashville, authorities have conducted more than 200 water rescues, and surrounding communities have reported several more, Mayor Karl Dean told CNN affiliate WSMV.
in nearby Mt. Juliet, rushing water lifted a business off of its foundation and carried it 30 feet away, as area residents reported waist-high water and other locals were stranded on their roofs.
“I called 911 and said, ‘Can you get over here?’ They couldn’t get here because it was too choppy. It was like a lake in my front yard,” flood victim Calvin Hooch told WSMV.
Another resident, Sara Mickelsen, said she saw “a lady and a baby floating by on a mattress.”
Waynesville, Missouri, was another hard-hit locale. As residents tried to clean up after Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s heavy rains, Thursday’s flooding interrupted their efforts, and authorities ordered evacuations as Roubidoux Creek rose, CNN affiliate KYTV reported.
“Everything in this living room was soaked, as it all came in through the door,” resident Andy Anderson told the station.
Deaths in South Carolina, Missouri
The death in Oklahoma was one of several storm-related fatalities reported over the past few days. In South Carolina, Logan Dale Evans was found dead in floodwater on his family property Wednesday night near the town of Central, Pickens County Coroner Kandy Kelley said.
Evans, 23, was found outside his vehicle, which ended up about a mile downstream, said Kelley, who added that Evans is believed to have drowned.
At least two people were reported killed in Missouri this week, including a driver who was caught in rapidly rising water in McDonald County on Thursday, said Gregg Sweeten, the county’s emergency management director. The woman, thought to be in her 60s, had been trying to drive over a bridge when the water overwhelmed her vehicle, Sweeten said.
On Monday, Elijah Lee, 4, died after 6 inches of rain fell on Pulaski County, about 140 miles southwest of St. Louis. The boy was found in a vehicle swept up in floodwater that caught the community along Mitchell Creek off guard, said Sgt. Dan Crain, a Missouri Highway Patrol spokesman.
CNN’s Dave Hennen, Shawn Nottingham, Jason Hanna, John Branch, Sherri Pugh and Eliott C. McLaughlin contributed to this report.