Intense overnight rainfall floods roads, homes in Graves, Carlisle, Hickman counties

WKMS | By Derek Operle

Published July 20, 2023 at 11:37 AM CDT

A woman walking through a flooded Paducah street on Wednesday morning, July 19, 2023, as storms continue to impact far western Kentucky. Emergency flash flood warnings have been issued for Graves, Carlisle and Hickman counties.

The National Weather Service has declared a flash flooding emergency in far western Kentucky, where more than six inches of rain has fallen overnight in some places.

Water rescue teams are on the move in Hickman, Graves and Carlisle Counties, where homes and roadways have been flooded by intense rainfall.

A flash flooding emergency was declared for the towns of Wingo, Beulah, Dublin and Fancy Farm just before 3 a.m. local time this morning.

Emergency officials say floodwaters left residents cut off in their own homes in Wingo and in Mayfield, where a catastrophic EF-4 tornado struck in late 2021.

"Major flooding like many have never seen is occurring," Graves County Sheriff Jon Hayden said in a social media post early this morning. "Stay off the roads as many are flooded and are impassable."

Hayden also said several cars have been "driven into water and drowned out" along "washed out" roads as a result of the overnight flood.

The sheriff also said that His House Ministries in Mayfield, a local church, has opened its doors as a shelter.

No injuries have been reported.