22 Dead, Many Missing After 17 Inches Of Rain In Tennessee

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A mobile home and a truck trailer sit near a creek Sunday after they were washed away by flood waters the day before in McEwen, Tenn. Heavy rains caused flooding in middle Tennessee and have resulted in multiple deaths as homes and rural roads were washed away.





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Mark Humphrey/AP





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Dickson Public Works personnel check the flooding on Old Pond Lane following heavy rainfall on Saturday in Dickson, Tenn. Heavy flooding in several Middle Tennessee counties on Saturday prompted water rescues, road closures, and communications disruptions, with several people killed.





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Debris from flooding is strewn along Sam Hollow Road following heavy rainfall on Saturday in Dickson, Tenn.





Josie Norris/The Tennessean via AP



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Josie Norris/The Tennessean via AP





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Michael Pate watches as a road is repaired on Sunday in McEwen, Tenn. Pate repaired the road Saturday after heavy rain washed part of it away, but the road was damaged again when more rain fell Saturday night. Heavy rains caused flooding in Middle Tennessee and have resulted in multiple deaths as homes and rural roads were washed away.





Mark Humphrey/AP



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Mark Humphrey/AP




Michael Pate watches as a road is repaired on Sunday in McEwen, Tenn. Pate repaired the road Saturday after heavy rain washed part of it away, but the road was damaged again when more rain fell Saturday night. Heavy rains caused flooding in Middle Tennessee and have resulted in multiple deaths as homes and rural roads were washed away.


Mark Humphrey/AP

At the Cash Saver grocery in in Waverly, employees stood on desks, registers and a flower rack as the waters from the creek that’s usually 400 feet (120 meters) from the store rushed in after devastating the low income housing next door. At one point, they tried to break through the celling into the attic and couldn’t, store co-owner David Hensley said.

The flood waters stopped rising as fast just as the situation was getting dire and a rescue boat came by. «We told him that if there’s somebody else out there you can get, go get them, we think we’re OK, Hensley said.

At the beginning of a news conference on Tropical Storm Henri’s impact on New England, President Joe Biden offered condolences to the people of Tennessee and directed federal disaster officials to talk with the governor and offer assistance.

Just to the east of Waverly, the town of McEwen was pummeled Saturday with 17.02 inches (43.2 centimeters) of rain, smashing the state’s 24-hour record of 13.6 inches (34.5 centimeters) from 1982, according to the National Weather Service in Nashville, though Saturday’s numbers would have to be confirmed.

A flash flood watch was issued for the area before the rain started, with forecasters saying 4 to 6 inches (10 to 15 centimeters) of rain was possible. The worst storm recorded in this area of Middle Tennessee only dropped 9 inches (23 centimeters) of rain, said Krissy Hurley, a weather service meteorologist in Nashville.

«Forecasting almost a record is something we don’t do very often, Hurley said. «Double the amount we’ve ever seen was almost unfathomable.

Recent scientific research has determined that extreme rain events will become more frequent because of man-made climate change. Hurley said it is impossible to know its exact role in Saturday’s flood, but noted in the past year her office dealt with floods that used to be expected maybe once every 100 years in September south of Nashville and in March closer to the city.

«We had an incredible amount of water in the atmosphere, Hurley said of Saturday’s flooding. «Thunderstorms developed and moved across the same area over and over and over.

The problem isn’t limited to Tennessee. A federal study found man-made climate change doubles the chances of the types of heavy downpours that in August 2016 dumped 26 inches (66 centimeters) of rain around Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Those floods killed at least 13 people and damaged 150,000 homes.