POPLAR BLUFF, Mo. — Thousands of southeastern Missouri residents watched helplessly Monday as water from the Black River crept toward their homes after flowing over the levee protecting their town and trapping some who had to be rescued by boat.Several homes in and around Poplar Bluff were partially submerged, while water filled the front yards of other houses. The river topped the levee in multiple spots, raising concerns that it would give way under the weight of inch after inch of rain that had been falling since the weekend.
"It was too late for sandbagging. There are too many places. If you sandbag one place, it goes to the next. All we can do is wait and see," Police Chief Danny Whiteley said. A levee break would send water flowing into the city's south side and likely displace about 7,000 people.
Heavy rain pelted communities from Arkansas to Kentucky. Like Poplar Bluff, many of them were already soaked by previous storms and some were struggling to recover from tornadoes that had damaged homes, businesses and, in St. Louis, the main airport. While some communities evacuated, others began sandbagging in anticipation of worse flooding as more storms roll in.
The storm system that hit northeast Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas on Monday will head north and reach Illinois and Wisconsin by Tuesday, said Greg Carbin, a meteorologist with the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla. At the same time, a second storm system will start on the same path, meaning the same communities will get dumped on over and over. That system will continue east through Thursday, he said.
"I think we'll see substantial flooding," Carbin predicted, adding later, "Arkansas to Illinois, that corridor, they've already have incredible rainfall and this is going to aggravate the situation."
The region will get at least 6 inches of rain over the next three days, he said. An area east of Little Rock, Ark., stretching across Memphis and up to eastern Tennessee will be hardest hit with 8 to 9 inches.
Dozens of roads in multiple states have already closed because of flooding, and several school districts canceled classes for that reason. Communities like Paducah, Ky., in the Ohio River valley were building flood walls to hold back the water and adding rocks to the top of earthen levees.
A man observes flooding on Frankfort Avenue near River Road in Louisville, Ky., on Monday.
In Missouri, emergency crews rescued a man Monday morning after his pickup truck was swept into a water-filled ditch about 10 miles southeast of Poplar Bluff. State patrol troopers used boats to help other people trapped in their homes by rising water, including a homebound woman.
Jamie McIntosh, 28, said police knocked at her house in Poplar Bluff, where she lives with eight relatives, and encouraged them to leave, although the evacuation wasn't mandatory. They went anyway. The home flooded in 2008 and three rooms were destroyed, and "this one looks a lot worse," McIntosh said.
At least 1,000 people left voluntarily, officials said. Some sought shelter at the town's Black River Coliseum, a 5,000-seat concert and meeting venue that overlooks the swollen river and a park that's already under water. Others moved in with friends and relatives. There were no reports of injuries.
A steady stream of people carrying their belongings in plastic sacks flowed into the coliseum, where members of the United Gospel Rescue Mission had food prepared. Rev. Gregory Kirk said he got the call to feed people early Monday and he'd been up and working since 4 a.m.
"We feed everybody," Kirk said. "I'm stressed out. I've been up all night."
This winter's heavy snowfall raised fears of spring flooding across the Upper Midwest, but North Dakota and Minnesota rode out a late thaw without major damage. The Fargo, N.D., area held off the Red River's fourth-highest crest with the aid of temporary flood walls and sandbags, and overland flooding that cut off major roads turned out to be the most significant disruption. Elsewhere, mostly dry conditions helped keep rivers in check during the melt.
But a spate of storms created problems further south. Just two weeks ago, tornadoes in six states killed 45 people. One touched down briefly Monday in Texas, about 30 miles southwest of Fort Worth, but no injuries were reported.
In Hardy, Ark., officials ordered City Hall evacuated Monday as well as private homes threatened by flooding from the Spring River.
"We just got back in after the last flood," Mayor Nina Thornton lamented.
Indiana resident John Deplata, 43, rented a moving truck Monday and began packing his belongings from his home in Utica Township along the Ohio River, just across from Louisville, Ky. His house was filled with about 4 feet of water during the 1997 floods that hit that part of the state.
"If the rain comes in like they're talking ... then it'll get us," Deplata said.
In Missouri, Gov. Jay Nixon activated the Missouri National Guard on Monday to help with response efforts.
"There have been many evacuations in small pockets of populations along the Missouri/Arkansas border," said Bill Davis, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Springfield.
"There are a lot of low-lying bridges and roads in that area that can be dangerous."
The Cape Girardeau Regional Airport in southeast Missouri was closed due to floodwaters on the runway.
Many schools in northeastern Arkansas also closed Monday because of flooding.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
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