Storms keep flood threat alive from Midwest to mid-Atlantic

Thunderstorms and heavy rain are expected to keep posing a flash-flood risk across a broad stretch of the United States, from the Midwest to the mid-Atlantic, for at least another day. The National Weather Service said the unsettled pattern would likely persist through Monday before a cold front pushes the system off the East Coast on Tuesday.

Flood watches remained in effect through Monday evening for much of West Virginia, southeast Ohio, and northeast Kentucky. Officials warned that high water from earlier storms had left the ground saturated, raising the chance of flash flooding with any new downpours.

In Indiana, where days of storms and flooding have claimed at least seven lives, conditions showed signs of improvement. The White River in Indianapolis receded, and rainfall eased in parts of the state on Sunday. Still, a flood warning was active Monday morning for part of Randolph County in east central Indiana, where thunderstorms dropped 1 to 2 inches of rain by 8 a.m.

“While we have seen encouraging trends, the work is far from over,” said Jacob Spence, director of the Metropolitan Emergency Services Agency in Indianapolis. City officials launched a website on Sunday to help affected residents.

The confirmed deaths include a 4-year-old boy, three men, and three women, according to Liz Woods, a spokesperson for the state Department of Homeland Security. Among the victims was a 31-year-old cyclist found dead early Sunday in a hole that opened on a washed-out road in Henry County, east of Indianapolis. County Coroner Brian Clark said the man, James Briar, appeared to have gone around a barricade and fallen into the collapsed roadway.

Heavy rains over the past week caused rivers to crest at record levels and severely damaged or washed out roads and bridges across Indiana. Power outages have also been widespread, with more than 106,000 utility customers still without electricity as of Monday morning, down from a peak of around 300,000, according to the online tracker PowerOutage.us.

The severe weather has caused damage across the broader region, including tornadoes, heavy rain, and flash flooding from Illinois to western Pennsylvania. Forecasters said the next area of concern includes the upper Ohio Valley and central Appalachians, with the possibility of severe storms late Monday across eastern Tennessee and western North Carolina.