Flash flood fatal for 2 Arkansans

3rd person missing after car swept from Missouri road

Two of three Arkansans swept away by flash flooding Saturday night in Missouri were found dead, authorities said while they searched for the third Sunday evening.

The Branson Police Department identified the missing woman as Whitney McDonald, 31, of Nashville.

She was believed to have been the driver of a vehicle caught in flooding during a powerful overnight storm that hit Arkansas, Missouri and Tennessee.

The flooding killed passengers Antonio Finley, 37, and Kaliea Munn, 17, both of the same southwest Arkansas town, police said.

Finley and Munn were reported missing when the vehicle was washed off Fall Creek Road, police said.

Two other passengers in the car escaped as it was swept away at 9:20 p.m. Saturday night, police said.

The city's fire chief posted a Facebook message at about 9:50 p.m. warning people to stay off the roads because of rising water and active water rescues.

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Finley, Munn and McDonald were in Branson -- a city known for attracting tourists -- for an annual youth basketball tournament.

Finley's brother coordinates four or five youth basketball teams in Nashville known by the name "the Hurricanes," said Scott Bates, founder and director of Hoop Play USA, a Hot Springs-based group that organized the Branson tournament and others throughout the region.

As many as 40 teams from across Arkansas traveled for the tournament, called the Border Wars, which is open to second- through 12th-graders, Bates said.

Finley and Munn were found at different times -- 2 a.m. and 7:48 a.m., respectively -- near Copper Creek Resort, the Springfield News-Leader reported.

The resort sits on Lake Taneycomo, a dammed-off portion of the White River that crosses two spots on the Arkansas-Missouri border.

Branson Police Chief Stan Dobbins, who was meeting with Munn's family, was not available Sunday evening for a telephone interview, a city spokesman said.

"We are working diligently to find Ms. McDonald and are grateful for the perseverance and expertise that Missouri State Patrol Water Rescue Division is demonstrating to locate Ms. McDonald," Dobbins said in a statement. "We will remain focused on this task as long as it takes to bring her to loved ones awaiting her recovery."

Anywhere from 3.2 inches to 5 inches of rain fell over Branson within a two-hour span, said Mike Griffin, a meteorologist with the Springfield National Weather Service office. The water drained from the city's concrete-heavy downtown area and into the lower-lying Copper Creek, which quickly rose, Griffin said.

"That particular creek had never flooded that quickly, that high before is what we were told by officials down there," Griffin said.

The Springfield weather office issued a flash flood warning at 8:20 p.m. and upgraded it to a "flash flood emergency" at 9:34 p.m. after hearing of active water rescues and that businesses, including the Fall Creek Inn, were inundated with floodwater, Griffin said.

Arkansas was mostly spared of major damage and injuries as storms pushed through the region, according to state police offices throughout the state.

Police departments in Russellville and Conway said there were reports of trees knocked down but no reports of major damage or injuries. Police departments elsewhere in Arkansas said Saturday night's storm was not overly disruptive.

Across the state, 19,000 Entergy Arkansas customers were without power at the peak of failures early Sunday, the utility said. About 6,000 remained without power Sunday evening.

The storms late Saturday and early Sunday sapped power from 188,000 in the Memphis area, the third largest failure in the city's history, The Associated Press reported.

Memphis Light, Gas & Water President Jerry Collins said at a news conference that it will take more than a week to restore service to everyone, and as of Sunday evening, more than 138,000 remained without power, the wire service reported. Temperatures there are expected to be in the mid-80s this week.

Metro on 05/29/2017

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