Torrential rains continued across the nation's midsection on Thursday, causing flash flooding that killed a woman and a child, damaged homes and forced multiple water rescues.
Up to
10 inches of rain pounded southern Missouri overnight. A woman died near Jane, Mo., in the far southwestern corner of the state where creek water washed over a highway, sweeping away her car.
"Early this morning it just unleashed," said Greg Sweeten, emergency management director in McDonald County, Mo.
Authorities in the south-central Missouri town of Waynesville continued to search for 23-year-old Jessica D. Lee, whose car was swept up in a flash flood early Tuesday. The body of her 4-year-old son, Elyjah, was found Tuesday, hours after his mother made a distress call from her cell phone.
Flash flood warnings were common in Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas, Oklahoma and Tennessee. And things could get worse: Heavy rain is in the forecast into the weekend.
National Weather Service meteorologist Drew Albert in Springfield, Mo., said the rain is the result of a storm front that has stalled over the plains.
Comment: Comment: To give you an idea how rare tornadoes are in Italy, four tornadoes in total were recorded in the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, and three were recorded in the 20th century.
But then something changed.
Four were recorded between 2008 and 2011, two in 2012... and so far this year there have been at least three in the city of Milan alone!
'Rare' tornado hits Milan, leaves utter disaster in its wake