Nashville set for flooding in downtown
Source: Agencies |
May 4, 2010, Tuesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
OFFICIALS were preparing for flooding yesterday in downtown Nashville in the United States as the result of weekend thunderstorms that have killed at least 19 people in the south.
The Cumberland River was expected to crest more than 3 1/2 meters early yesterday, putting portions of downtown in danger of the kind of damage experienced by thousands of residents whose homes were swamped by flash floods.
Authorities weren't taking any chances. They evacuated the downtown area and north Nashville where a leaky levee threatened residents and businesses. About 1,500 guests of a downtown hotel spent Sunday night in a high school to escape the flooding.
Forecasters were on the money when they warned residents there would be severe weather across the region, but few could have predicted the devastation the relentless line of storms brought.
Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen called it an "unprecedented rain event," but that failed to capture the magnitude. More than 33 centimeters of rain fell in Nashville over two days, nearly doubling the previous record of 17 centimeters that fell in the wake of Hurricane Fredrick in 1979.
At least 11 were dead in Tennessee, six in Mississippi and two in Kentucky.
Tennessee Emergency Management Agency officials say there was likely an additional victim, but a body had not been recovered. Three people in Mississippi were killed when high winds believed to be tornados hit their homes and three others were killed in what authorities said were weather-related traffic accidents.
Kentucky Emergency Management officials said two deaths in Barren and Madison counties in central Kentucky were weather-related.
The weekend deaths came on the heels of a tornado in Arkansas that killed a woman and injured about two dozen people on Friday. And just a week ago, 10 people were killed by a tornado from a separate storm in western Mississippi.
Five people have died in Nashville where on Sunday authorities found two people who drowned in a home and two others who died when their vehicle overturned in flood waters.
Bredesen said officials hoped for the best, but knew there might be more deaths reported yesterday as authorities got their first real look at the damage after a weekend filled with frantic rescues.
The Cumberland River was expected to crest more than 3 1/2 meters early yesterday, putting portions of downtown in danger of the kind of damage experienced by thousands of residents whose homes were swamped by flash floods.
Authorities weren't taking any chances. They evacuated the downtown area and north Nashville where a leaky levee threatened residents and businesses. About 1,500 guests of a downtown hotel spent Sunday night in a high school to escape the flooding.
Forecasters were on the money when they warned residents there would be severe weather across the region, but few could have predicted the devastation the relentless line of storms brought.
Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen called it an "unprecedented rain event," but that failed to capture the magnitude. More than 33 centimeters of rain fell in Nashville over two days, nearly doubling the previous record of 17 centimeters that fell in the wake of Hurricane Fredrick in 1979.
At least 11 were dead in Tennessee, six in Mississippi and two in Kentucky.
Tennessee Emergency Management Agency officials say there was likely an additional victim, but a body had not been recovered. Three people in Mississippi were killed when high winds believed to be tornados hit their homes and three others were killed in what authorities said were weather-related traffic accidents.
Kentucky Emergency Management officials said two deaths in Barren and Madison counties in central Kentucky were weather-related.
The weekend deaths came on the heels of a tornado in Arkansas that killed a woman and injured about two dozen people on Friday. And just a week ago, 10 people were killed by a tornado from a separate storm in western Mississippi.
Five people have died in Nashville where on Sunday authorities found two people who drowned in a home and two others who died when their vehicle overturned in flood waters.
Bredesen said officials hoped for the best, but knew there might be more deaths reported yesterday as authorities got their first real look at the damage after a weekend filled with frantic rescues.
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