Severe weather crossed Tennessee Saturday and brought two rounds of heavy rain, high winds, flash flooding, and tornado warnings.
Tennessee Emergency Management Agency (TEMA) officials on Sunday afternoon reported four weather-related fatalities in Davidson County.
The mostly localized impacts of the severe storms included some flooding of homes and businesses, scattered structures damaged, closed roads, downed trees, and power outages.
“The Tennessee Emergency Management Agency activated the State Emergency Operations Center (SEOC), as well as its Regional Coordination Centers in west, middle, and east Tennessee,” TEMA said in an emailed press release.
“The SEOC remains operational today to support local requests for assistance and resource needs, and to gather information from partner agencies and county emergency officials about the ongoing response to weather impacts.”
Localized impacts, the TEMA reported, include the following:
• 50 businesses flooded in downtown Lebanon in Wilson County
• 130 plus swift-water rescues conducted in Davidson County alone
• Single-family and multi-family evacuations conduction in a half-dozen counties
• Scores of motorists rescued from flooded vehicles
• The American Red Cross placed four families — two in Sullivan County and two Wilson County — in non-congregant shelters
The National Weather Service is surveying tornado damage in Henderson County. The U.S. Army Corp of Engineers reported that the Cumberland River Basin had seen between 3 inches to 8 inches of rainfall during the preceding 48 hours, according to TEMA.
As of Sunday afternoon, TEMA reported approximately 5,200 customers were without power statewide, including those in the following areas:
• 1,200 customers in Davidson County
• 1,500 customers in Shelby County
• 500 customers in Williamson County
• 500 customers in McNairy County
• The remaining outages are in areas with fewer than 500 customers without power
A boil water notice was in effect in Henderson County for Lexington Utility customers. Lenoir City in Loudon County was without water service currently, TEMA reported.
Power outages had fallen from a peak of around 15,000 customers Saturday night to around 5,200 Sunday morning.
“Requests for assistance are being fulfilled for local response operations to support swift-water rescues, flood cleanup, sandbagging resources,” TEMA said.
“The State SEOC is monitoring river gauge reports in Tennessee, in conjunction with the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers and the National Weather Service, to prepare if flood resources or response operations are needed.”
Tennesseans who need help with cleaning up following the storms and flooding, according to the press release, can call the Crisis Cleanup hotline at 833-904-1085.
– – –
Chris Butler is an investigative journalist at The Tennessee Star. Follow Chris on Facebook. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Storm Damage” by Kara CC2.0.
