Flooding follows severe weather in southeast US

In the latest development from several days of severe weather across the south and central United States, northwestern Florida and the Alabama gulf coast were hit with widespread flooding early Wednesday, with people stranded in cars and homes waiting for rescuers to find a way around impassable roads. Fire rescue crews were not able to respond to some calls for help because of road flooding in and around Pensacola, Florida, and one woman died when she drove her car into high water, bringing the total number of deaths from the series of storms this week to at least 36. The widespread flooding is the latest blow from a storm system that still has considerable strength days after the violent outbreak started in Arkansas and Oklahoma. Mississippi and Arkansas saw the most fatalities, as well as the most destruction from violent tornadoes. Deaths also were reported in Alabama, Tennessee, Oklahoma, and Iowa. As much as 38 to 50 centimeters of rain had fallen in Pensacola in a 24-hour period, National Weather Service (NWS) meteorologist Phil Grigsby said Wednesday, with a few more centimeters expected. Grigsby said aerial rescues were planned, and authorities moved boats and jet skis from the beaches to the streets to help. “We’ve seen pictures that people are posting [online] with water halfway up their … front doors,” he said. “It’s going to be a big cleanup.”