Nashville flash flooding kills at last four
Heavy rainfall triggers a state of emergency in Nashville, Tennessee.
Forecasters are warning Monday that parts of Tennessee will see "heavy rain" in the next few days following devastating flooding over the weekend that left four people dead in Nashville.
The showers and thunderstorms expected to move through the state starting Tuesday afternoon into Wednesday have prompted the National Weather Service to issue flood warnings and advisories for more than two dozen counties.
"The current forecast shows total rainfall amounts of 1 to 2 inches across the region," it said in an advisory, but added that the "main concern may be in regards to flash flooding as heavy rain impacts a region that recently experienced flooding just a few days ago."
Bellevue residents survey flooding from the Harpeth River on Sunday in Nashville, Tenn. Flash flooding from storms the night before caused road closures in the Bellevue neighborhood. (Reuters)
NASHVILLE MAYOR DECLARES STATE OF EMERGENCY FOLLOWING DEADLY FLOODING
The latest storms are expected to drop another 1.6 inches of rain on Nashville, according to Fox 17.
Nashville received more than 7 inches of rain over the weekend, the second-highest two-day rainfall total ever recorded in the city, Mayor John Cooper said at a news conference Sunday. Authorities found four bodies in the aftermath of the storms and at least 130 people had to be rescued from cars, apartments and homes in the Nashville area, fire Chief William Swann added.
"I don't have the facts right now to understand why we lost lives exactly, but I'm counting on our emergency departments to have a very thorough analysis," Cooper also said, according to The Tennessean.
Debris lies in the backyard yard outside a home in Nashville on Sunday. Flash flooding along Sevenmile Creek the night before caused major damage in the South Nashville neighborhood. (Reuters)
Following the weekend rainfall, many rivers and creeks were at or near their highest levels since 2010, the National Weather Service said. Floods in May 2010 caused 21 deaths in Tennessee and an estimated $1.5 billion in damage in Nashville.
"It’s the worst flooding event we’ve seen since the May 2010 flood," National Weather Service meteorologist Sam Shamburger told The Tennessean. "But the main difference is this event affected a much smaller area than the 2010 flood."
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Flooding from the Harpeth River on Sunday in Nashville. (Reuters)
Everette Miles, a resident of the Antioch neighborhood in Nashville, bought a new car after his old one was destroyed in the 2010 floods – only to have it damaged in the storms this past weekend, the newspaper reported.
"You're trying to keep up with paying your rent and light bills and stuff and then right here happens," he said. "The Lord will see us through it, though."
