Chris Dolce and Jan Wesner Childs
At least one person is dead and more than 150 people had to be rescued as heavy rainfall swamped middle Tennessee overnight and triggered major flooding of homes and roads, including in the south Nashville area.
The Metro Nashville Police Department said an urban search and rescue team recovered the body of a man Sunday morning from a Honda sedan submerged in flooding from a creek next to a Walmart at Harding Place and Nolensville Pike.
The Nashville Fire Department said in a news release that crews rescued at least 130 people from vehicles, homes and apartments. They were still responding to calls as of 7:30 a.m.
One of the rescued was Christopher Rand, a resident of the Nashville suburb of Brentwood. His wife woke him up as the water as rising. They were able to move some of their belongings and their cars out of the flood's reach, but not themselves.
“We ultimately were stuck in our house and had a swift boat come and help us get out," Rand told The Weather Channel Sunday morning. "We’re very grateful for that. We have a young daughter. It was a difficult experience but we’re all together."
A portion of Interstate 40 was temporarily shut down due to high water that stranded a vehicle and its driver. The driver was able to get out of the vehicle and to safety, the Tennessee Highway Patrol in Nashville tweeted.
Doppler radar estimated that parts of middle Tennessee picked up over 9 inches of rain in the deluge, according to the National Weather Service.
The blue circles show reports of flooding in the 24 hours ending Sunday morning.Eight people and a dog were staying overnight at Brentwood City Hall after flooding from the Little Harpeth River forced residents from their homes, City Manager Kirk Bednar said, according to The Associated Press. Hotels in the area were booked up, in part due to spring break, Bednar said.
Fifteen people were rescued and two were taken to the hospital at the City View Apartments in south Nashville, where the lower level of the building was flooded in waist-deep water. The fire department responded to reports of a collapse at the building following a mudslide, news outlets reported. The two hospitalized patients had injuries not considered to be life-threatening.
As Fox 17 reported live from the apartments around 3 a.m, Michael Harvell was treading through the water in a stairwell and said he was looking for his car keys. He used a hammer to break down the door of the flooded apartment where his family was staying inside, and had lost the keys in the race to save them.
“They were standing on the furniture,” Harvell said. “I had to break the door down to get them out.”
The flooding was from the same storm system that also spawned 15 reports of tornadoes in the South late Saturday. Tornadoes were reported in parts of eastern Texas, eastern Arkansas, northern Mississippi and western Tennessee.
This is the the latest round of severe weather to pummel the South after 49 tornadoes were confirmed in 10 states from March 16 through March 18.
The Weather Company’s primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news, the environment and the importance of science to our lives. This story does not necessarily represent the position of our parent company, IBM.
The Weather Company’s primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news, the environment and the importance of science to our lives. This story does not necessarily represent the position of our parent company, IBM.
No comments:
Post a Comment