Relentless downpours drenched a large stretch of the Central United States on Friday, pushing creeks and streams out of their banks and raising flood fears across much of the region. The storm has already spawned more than 30 tornadoes and killed at least seven people while plowing across the country this week.
For now, it is stalled over a region from Arkansas to Michigan, putting communities on high alert for more potentially dangerous flooding, including in places still sifting through the debris left by the heavy rainfall and high-speed winds that started Wednesday night.
Residents of river towns and cities were eyeing rising waters and piling up sandbags in anticipation of more rain, which is expected to be widespread on Friday from eastern Texas to Illinois, and continue in much of that area into the weekend.
The National Weather Service warned Friday morning of a flash flood event that could endanger lives and break records across the Lower Ohio Valley and the Mid-South to Lower Mississippi Valley.
A flash flood warning was also in effect for much of central and western Kentucky into Friday afternoon. In Boston, Ky., roughly 35 miles south of Louisville, Bruce Gooden could see the water creeping up as he cut hair at his barbershop near Lick Creek.
The heavy rain swelling the creek could not flow into the nearby Rolling Fork River, which was already above flood stage. Mr. Gooden, 63, had seen the water rise before, but hour after hour of heavy downpours and cracking lightning fed a sense of doom.
“The water has never made it into my shop before, but I fear it will happen this time,” he said as he kept clipping. He had sand piled in the bed of his truck, he said, and was ready to bag and stack it if the water rose high enough.
“I’ll play it by ear,” he said. “I’ll stay open as long as I can.”
On Friday, the bull’s-eye for the heaviest rain that could lead to dangerous flooding fell within a large portion of Arkansas and a sliver of southern Missouri, including the Ozarks. On Saturday, forecasters expect the threat to spread into the boot heel of Missouri and western Kentucky and Tennessee.
Flooding is expected on roads, and major rivers will probably spill over their banks because the saturated ground will not be able to absorb several more inches of rain.
“I think, unfortunately, the next 24 to 36 hours is when we’re going to start to see the heaviest rain totals of this event,” said Frank Pereira, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said on Friday morning.
Severe thunderstorms that spawn tornadoes are also possible in the same general area on Friday. That risk will bump up on Saturday in a zone that includes Memphis, Little Rock, Ark., and Jackson, Miss. Powerful and damaging wind gusts and large hailstones — perhaps bigger than limes — are more likely in this area than tornadoes.
In Tennessee, where at least five people, including a teenage girl, were killed by the storms this week, several inches of rain that fell throughout Thursday caused major floods and shut down roadways.
In a news conference on Thursday night, Gov. Bill Lee of Tennessee warned residents that the dangers posed by the storm were serious and could intensify. “Don’t let your guard down,” he said.
The other people who died in the storms included a fire chief from Missouri and a 27-year-old man from Indiana.
In New Madrid, Mo., a city along the Mississippi River at risk of rising water levels, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers brought in sandbag-filling machines, to cheers from city workers. In Arkansas, participants in a Corrections Department work-release program helped fill sandbags in Saline County.
As people made preparations, anxiety among customers at a grocery store in Boston, Ky., seemed to be rising as gradually as the water.
“You have to be ahead of it and aware of it, make plans,” said Steve Fox, 68, whose house is on a hill nearby, high enough that he believes he is safe from flooding. But the hill could become an island, he said, if the water rises enough. “The water will probably get over the roads, and I’ll be cut off for a few days,” he said.
For those around long enough to remember, a flood in 1997 — one of the deadliest disasters in Kentucky history — is the yardstick against which events like this are measured, and residents fear the coming days could bring something comparable.
Denise Baker has worked at the Boston Food Mart, where Mr. Fox was shopping, for 31 years, 20 of them as manager. In all that time, floodwater has never breached her store, but she knew that was no guarantee that it would not happen this time.
She knows how much the community relies on the store, and she was determined to maintain that lifeline — even if the store were to become accessible only by boat.
“We’re going to try to keep the store open as long as possible,” she said.
Carly Gist, Jenny Gross, Mitch Smith and Sara Ruberg contributed reporting.