Oklahoma officials say severe weather killed three people, including a 12-year-old child and his mother.
According to an Oklahoma State Emergency Operations Centre announcement, the severe floodwaters in central Oklahoma also caused damage to at least ten residences.
Moore police, roughly 10 miles south of Oklahoma City, recorded “dozens of high-water incidents” on Sunday morning, calling the intense rains as “a historical weather event.”
Police told CNN affiliate KOCO that one of the incidences included a woman and son whose vehicle was washed into a creek and then trapped against a drainage pipe. Police suspect the vehicle was carrying a family of three. A third person was able to flee and was transported to the hospital in serious condition.
When rescuers arrived at the vehicle, the woman and child were not there. Moore police and neighbouring agencies conducted a thorough search before finding them.
According to the principal of Apple Creek Elementary in Moore, Oklahoma, the 12-year-old boy attended the school.
“It is with profound sadness that I share the heartbreaking news that one of our sixth-grade students, Rivers Bond, and his mother tragically passed away during the severe flooding last night,” Rachel McNear said in a letter to parents released to KOCO. The mother has been identified as Erika Lott, 44, according to the Moore Police Department’s Facebook page.
A father and kid in a separate vehicle that was washed away around the same time were also able to escape, according to authorities. According to KOCO, their vehicle momentarily collided with that of the three-person family.
Moore police said earlier Saturday night that they were responding to more than a dozen pleas for assistance from people whose vehicles were stranded in high water.
A tornado hit Spaulding, Oklahoma, around 10:35 p.m. Saturday, injuring two persons, according to Hughes County Emergency Management. Two homes were damaged by the storm, as were several other surrounding properties. An official announced Sunday that one of the injured had died.
A search is underway near Leonard, Oklahoma, some 25 miles southeast of Tulsa, for a mother and her 7-year-old daughter who were washed away by floodwaters, officials stated on social media.
Around 4:45 p.m., the Bixby Fire Department responded to reports of an SUV submerged in rushing water on private property. The father and one child escaped, but the 47-year-old lady and her younger daughter were taken away, according to Wagoner County Emergency Management.
Water levels were “significantly higher than we’ve seen in recent years,” police told KOCO. Flooding in the area has subsided, but police warn that huge debris remains on the roads.
Flooding is part of the extreme weather that hit several southern states late Saturday and early Sunday.
The Storm Prediction Centre has declared an increased risk of severe weather for northern Arkansas and much of Missouri through Monday morning, according to the National Weather Service.
It will proceed into the upper Midwest on Monday, bringing strong gusts and scattered rains to the Great Lakes. A trailing cold front will bring thunderstorms to the Ohio and Tennessee Valleys on Monday, but the storms will lessen as the front moves into the Northeast by Tuesday.
Flood warnings were issued to millions of people throughout six states, from Texas to Arkansas and up to Illinois, as of Sunday evening.
The weekend rain is forecast to be 2 to 3 inches in affected areas, with more than 5 inches likely in isolated locations.
The flood-prone area is located west of the areas along the Mississippi River that were severely damaged two weeks ago. However, many of these areas are still soggy from earlier storms this month, so it won’t take much to cause floods.