MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) – The Latest on Tropical Depression Harvey’s effects on the South (all times local):
9:50 a.m.
More than 1,500 people are staying at shelters in Louisiana in Harvey’s aftermath, and the number is rising as more people are evacuated from flood-ravaged communities in Texas.
Shauna Sanford, a spokeswoman for Gov. John Bel Edwards, says 1,510 people were in six Louisiana shelters as of midnight Thursday. She says 1,384 of them came from Texas.
The state opened a seventh shelter in Shreveport on Friday morning that can accommodate approximately 2,400 people. Sanford says 1,177 people spent the night at a state-run shelter in Alexandria that has a capacity of about 2,500. The state Department of Children and Family Services is overseeing the two state-run shelters.
More than 200 others were staying at a parish-run shelter in Lake Charles. Sanford says the Red Cross opened three shelters – two in Rapides Parish and one in Caddo Parish. Another shelter opened at a church in Beauregard Parish.
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6:50 a.m.
Officials say more than 50 people have been evacuated from their homes in Tennessee due to flooding from Harvey, but no deaths or injuries have been reported.
A Friday statement from the Nashville Office of Emergency Management says remnants from Harvey dumped nearly 9 inches of rain in some areas over a 24-hour period with other areas getting just a little more than 2 inches. It said crews responded to dozens of calls overnight requesting aid.
Nashville Deputy Fire Director William Swann told news outlets that crews conducted about 25 water rescues and there were about 40 people in a Red Cross shelter that was set up at a church.
Along with flooding, the storm knocked down trees and caused power outages, though most people had their power restored by daybreak. It also led several school districts to cancel classes in Middle Tennessee.
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3 a.m.
Harvey spread its misery into the Deep South as a likely tornado damaged homes and toppled trees in a rural area of northwest Alabama and areas around the region faced flooding fears.
The rains caused some flooding in low-lying streets in Memphis, as the western Tennessee city reported power outages late Thursday and rivers in the area swelled. Though still a tropical depression, Harvey also began to shed its tropical characteristics overnight as its rain bands extended farther across Tennessee and Kentucky on its forecast path toward the Ohio Valley.
Authorities said Harvey’s remnants contributed to the death of a motorist involved in a head-on crash Thursday with a tractor-trailer on Interstate 40 in Memphis.
Forecasters say the storm will likely dissipate Saturday evening around Ohio.