Flash floods kill five across Kentucky and Tennessee

Flash flooding killed four people in Kentucky and one woman in Tennessee on Sunday after more than 10 inches of rain fell across parts of the region the previous day. The Grainger County Sheriff's Department said Mary Evelyn Nicole Manning-Kellione, 39, died after she entered high water to reach her son, who had been carried into a culvert.

Rescue crews later recovered her body inside the culvert.

Rainfall and warnings The National Weather Service raised the flood threat to a level 3 moderate risk for portions of Kentucky and Tennessee. Rainfall rates of two to three inches per hour were forecast, with some areas possibly receiving up to five inches in a single day.

Flash-flood warnings covered southern Indiana and northeast Tennessee. A flash-flood emergency was declared for Metcalf, Cumberland, and Clinton counties in Kentucky, where between 2.6 and 8 inches of rain had already fallen.

Emergency declarations and rescues Nine counties in Kentucky issued states of emergency. Officials reported multiple water rescues, flooded homes, and washed-out roads and bridges. Clinton County and the city of Albany also declared local emergencies.

Search-and-rescue operations continued Sunday afternoon. Officials advised residents to avoid roads and activated price-gouging rules for essential goods. An emergency order allowed pharmacies in affected areas to refill prescriptions that had been lost or damaged.

The same weather system had earlier produced deadly flooding in central Kentucky that spread into northeast Tennessee and northwest North Carolina.