Widespread flooding across parts of Alabama has been blamed for several deaths in the state. According to Friday reports, four people including one child were killed after floodwaters carried away vehicles in separate incidents.
A flooded neighborhood is shown in Pelham, Ala., Thursday, Oct. 7, 2021. Parts of Alabama remain under a flash flood watch after a day of high water across the state, with as much as 6 inches of rain covering roads and trapping people. (AP Photo/Jay Reeves)
Widespread flooding across parts of Alabama has been blamed for several deaths in the state. According to Friday reports, four people, including one child, were killed after floodwaters carried away vehicles in separate incidents.
This comes after several days of torrential rain across the central part of the state. Reports said the city of Birmingham has gotten more than an inch of rain every day since Sunday.
In the nearby neighborhood of Pelham, more than 80 people were rescued from their homes with more than a dozen pulled from vehicles.
“It’s one of those things where you hear, ‘turn around, don’t drown.’ You see it the news a lot,” one resident explained. “You just think, ‘How could you get in that situation to begin with?’ But it really happened so fast I didn’t even have time to think about it. You just had to react and seek safety.”
Just because the rain has stopped doesn't mean the danger is over. Please be safe out there, folks! #alwx pic.twitter.com/Q7UsokT9Q3
— NWS Birmingham (@NWSBirmingham) October 7, 2021
Forecasters said the threat of heavy rain would shift east through the rest of the week. Pensacola, Florida has already recorded nearly a foot of rain this month, which was more than double the normal October rainfall.
