From building-crushing hurricanes to killer sinkholes, Gulf Coast residents have seen a lot. But even these battle-tested veterans of the weather wars are marveling at torrential rains that washed out bridges and roads, sent chest-high water into homes and forced major military bases to shut down Wednesday. "We've seen flooding before, but never flooding that washes the back of a house away," said CNN iReporter Matt Raybourn of Pensacola, Florida. "There are no words for what we are seeing here." The rushing waters reduced some streets to rubble, gouged huge gashes in others and left stretches of many others submerged, including parts U.S. 98, the main east-west route along the coast. It was closed in several places between Fort Walton Beach and Panama City. Abandoned cars sat half-submerged along the highway.
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Storms caused 38 deaths since Sunday; 67-year-old woman killed in Florida
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Tornado that struck Mayflower and Vilonia, Arkansas, Sunday was an EF-4
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Alabama official: Residents scrambled to rooftops as water rushed in
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National Weather Service: The rainfall at Pensacola's airport set a record
As much as 18.9 inches of rain fell over 24 hours in @placeholder and Florida, according to the National Weather Service.