Swollen rivers flood towns in southern US after prolonged deluge

A flooded mobile home park in Napoleon, Kentucky (Carolyn Kaster/AP)

Days of unrelenting downpours swelled rivers to near record levels across Kentucky on Monday, submerging neighbourhoods and threatening a famous bourbon distillery in the state capital.

Inundated rivers posed the latest threat from a series of persistent storms that have killed at least 20 people – 10 in Tennessee – since last week as they doused the region with heavy rain and spawned destructive tornadoes.