Six Killed as Storms Rake Several States

Thunderstorms tore across the Mississippi and Ohio valleys Saturday, ripping homes apart with tornadoes and flooding people out of their homes with record rainfall. At least six people were killed.

Flooding forced evacuations in Kentucky, West Virginia and Ohio, where several people were reported missing in a swollen creek in the southern part of the state.

A tornado struck the Mississippi community of Randolph about 1:30 a.m. EST, destroying four homes and damaging nearly a dozen other homes and businesses, officials said. Four people were hospitalized. The twister killed 50-year-old Huey Totor, throwing his body 75 feet from his mobile home, officials said.

In Arkansas, an afternoon tornado touched down in Arkadelphia, causing major damage. One person died in a traffic accident.

Gov. Mike Huckabee declared Clark County a disaster area because of extensive damage in downtown Arkadelphia, said spokesman Rex Nelson.

Tornadoes and thunderstorms, which swept through Kentucky, were blamed for at least three deaths.

The heaviest rain fell around Louisville, Ky., with a 24-hour record of 7.5 inches by early afternoon.

One bedridden woman had to be rescued from her flooded basement in the Louisville suburb of Fairdale. “She was actually floating in her mattress,” said Fire Chief Darren Daulton.

Several people were reported missing along southern Ohio’s Great Brush Creek, which was 8 feet above flood stage, and authorities searched the area with helicopters and boats.

A woman’s body was found in a flooded creek in western Tennessee’s Madison County, several hours after her car was swept off a bridge by high water. A man riding with her was missing. The woman’s son, initially listed as missing, was safe at home.