Harvey floods wreak havoc
10 inches of rain in Nashville closes schools
What was left of Hurricane Harvey plodded toward a wet exit Friday, leaving more misery in its wake with intense rain and flooding predicted as far north as Kentucky.
Poised to take Harvey’s place, Hurricane Irma spun up from a tropical storm to a “dangerous” Category 3 hurricane as it traveled across the Atlantic Ocean. Irma could reach Category 4, with sustained winds above 130 mph, as it edges toward the Lesser Antilles, north of South America, early next week.
“If Irma builds to a Category 4 and then hits the U. S. mainland, it will be the first time in more than 100 years the U. S. has been hit by two Category 4 hurricanes in the same year,” said Evan Myers, senior Accuweather meteorologist.
At 11 a. m. Friday, Irma had sustained winds of 110 mph with stronger gusts, according to the NationalWeather Service. The storm was moving westnorthwest at 13 mph, but a turn to the
west- southwest was expected on Saturday, the service said.
“Fluctuations in strength, up or down, are possible during the next few days, but Irma is expected to remain a powerful hurricane through the weekend,” the service said.
Irma’s path isn’t set yet, with potential tracks running both north and south of Puerto Rico. There is no projected landfall.
“There is the potential for Irma to ramp up to an even more powerful hurricane in the coming days,” according to Dan Kottlowski, an AccuWeather hurricane expert.
Accuweather urged officials in the eastern Caribbean to monitor “this evolving and dangerous hurricane.”
In the meantime, Harvey’s unrelenting rain still commands the spotlight even as it dissipates into a tropical depression.
Flooding is expected to continue in Texas for days and in spots up the lower Mississippi River valley to the Ohio River valley as the storm crawls north and east. Four to 8 inches of rain, with a serious threat of flash flooding, are projected across the Tennessee Valley and West Virginia as water rushes from higher elevations to low- lying areas.
“As the rains move into the northeast, residents of these areas should remain extremely vigilant,” Myers said.
The Nashville area, which got up to 10 inches of rain in the past day, closed schools Friday. The river levels haven’t come close to the historic 2010 flood, which caused more than $ 2 billion in damage and claimed the lives of 11 people in Davidson County.
Richard Williams woke up to find water already knee deep in the Chestnut Flats Apartments when a neighbor pounded on his door at 11: 30 p. m. Thursday.
All 13 residents of the complex were taken to a Red Cross shelter. About 50 people across the city fled the waters.
The NationalWeather Service in Louisville issued a flash- flood warning for that area Friday until noon.
While dumping a record nearly 52 inches of rain on Houston, Harvey killed at least 39 people. Search and rescue efforts continue block by block inHouston.
More than 325,000 people had applied for federal disaster assistance because of Harvey by Thursday morning, with $ 57 million paid out. More than 37,000 people were in emergency shelters after 8,000 families had moved to 9,000 hotel rooms.
FEMA Administrator Brock Long had a crisp answer Thursday for his prediction for Harvey for the next few days, as he worked on the aftermath inHouston.
“For Harvey to exit the nation, hopefully,” he said.