Tennessee Declares State of Emergency After Floods Force Evacuations, Water Rescues

Eric Chaney
Published: July 7,2016
Tennessee declared a state of emergency Thursday after torrential rain triggered major flash flooding in parts of Kentucky and Tennessee, swamping homes and prompting evacuations and water rescues.
According to the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency, six counties encompassing Nashville and areas north to the Kentucky line were affected by locally heavy rainfall, that reached up to 8 inches in some locations.
"This line of thunderstorms didn't merely sweep through, but rather trained over parts of Kentucky and Tennessee like boxcars of a train moving over the same section of railroad track, bringing repeated rounds of heavy rain over one inch per hour," said weather.com senior meteorologist Jonathan Erdman.
TEMA reported swift water rescues in Stewart, Sumner, and Robertson counties as flood waters inundated homes and roadways, but said no deaths or injuries have been reported.
In Clarksville, Tennessee, a mother and her young child had to be rescued from their flooded home after the still rising water reached the mother's knees, Tennessean reports.
Emergency management officials in Marshall County, Kentucky, reported that evacuations were underway at at a mobile home park in Hardin early Thursday morning and that multiple agencies in the county were conducting water rescues.

Emergency management officials in Marshall County, Kentucky, reported multiple agencies were conducting water rescues in the county early Thursday morning.
(Curt Curtner/Marshall County Emergency Management )

Floodwaters trapped some residents in their homes in the far northern Nashville suburbs of Gallatin and Springfield early Thursday. Numerous roads were flooded and closed in Sumner County, Tennessee.
Flash flooding was expected in the Whites Breek and Mansker Creek basins in the Nashville metro, as well as the Stoners Creek and Cedar Creek Basins in nearby Mount Juliet and Hermitage.
Some of the worst flooding was in the Land Between the Lakes region of southwest Kentucky and northwest Tennessee, where radar estimated 6 to 8 inches of rain had fallen, prompting the National Weather Service to issue a rare flash flood emergency for Stewart, northwest Cheatham and Montgomery Counties.
In Big Rock, Tennessee, about 75 miles northwest of Nashville, flooding trapped residents in their homes.

Flash Flood Reports

North of Nashville, a family of four escaped their Millersville home unharmed when it caught fire after it was struck by lightning early Thursday morning, WKRN reports. Heavy rains helped suppress the flames but flooding in the area made fighting the fire a challenge.
Evacuations were ordered throughout Marshall County, Kentucky, including the city of Gilbertsville, where waist-high water reached the door of one mobile home.
Six people were trapped in an apartment due to flooding in Possum Trot, Kentucky. Flooding was also widespread in Christian County, Kentucky, including Hopkinsville. Water up to the roof of a vehicle was reported in Russellville, Kentucky.

Storm-total radar estimated rainfall over Kentucky and Tennessee as of early morning, July 7, 2016. The heaviest rainfall is shown in the purple, pink and white contours.

A broad swath of 5 to 8 inches of rain was estimated by Doppler radar from far downstate Illinois to Kentucky and northern Tennessee.
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Latest Radar and Flood Warnings

(MORE: View National Interactive Radar Map | Difference Between a Watch and a Warning)
PHOTOS: Plains, Midwest Mid-June 2016 Severe Weather and Flooding