Posted on 05/02/2010 12:42:18 PM PDT by Tennessee Nana
MEMPHIS — Six people were killed in Tennessee and three in northern Mississippi by a line of storms that brought heavy flooding and tornados to the region over the weekend. More rain and storms loomed Sunday as emergency officials in Tennessee sought help from the state's Army National Guard, and urged people to stay off roads and interstate highways turned into raging rivers.
The Tennessee Emergency Management Agency revised the death toll downward about an hour after announcing that eight people had been killed. On Sunday morning, the agency asked for the state's National Guard to help with rescue operations and Gov. Phil Bredesen was getting hourly updates on the storm.
TEMA spokesman Jeremy Heidt confirmed that one person died around 4 a.m. Sunday in a tornado near Pocahontas, about 70 miles east of Memphis. The other deaths in Tennessee were all due to flooding, TEMA said.
Meanwhile, National Guard and Tennessee Highway Patrol helicopters with hoisting capabilities were on standby to rescue people from the floodwaters that covered city streets and left cars stranded on interstate highways turned into rivers.
Interstate-24 remained closed in Nashville, and segments of I-40 between Nashville and Memphis were blocked.
"The big message we're trying to get out is stay off the road," TEMA spokesman Mike Browning said. "It's really dangerous for a lot of people to be out there right now."
In northern Mississippi, Benton County Coroner John Riles said two people were killed in a mobile home that "looks like you stuck about four sticks of dynamite on it and it just disappeared."
Riles said a two-story house nearby also was obliterated. "If you didn't know the house was there, you'd think it was a vacant lot," he said.
In Lafayette County, Emergency Management coordinator David Shaw said one person was killed in Abbeville, where 15 or 20 houses were damaged by strong winds.
A spokeswoman at the National Weather Service said it was too early to say if tornadoes had caused the damage in Mississippi.
A line of strong thunderstorms Saturday dumped at least 10 inches of rain on Memphis and produced tornadoes and hail along the Mississippi River Valley in Mississippi, Arkansas, Missouri, Kentucky and northward.
The forecast called for more rain through the day Sunday, which could stymie rescuers trying to reach all of the far-flung areas that have been affected.
Some areas were hit by 13 inches of flash flooding on Saturday, and the same was expected on Sunday, Browning said.
"This thing is not going to be over this weekend by any means," he said.
The weekend deaths came on the heels of a tornado in Arkansas that killed a woman and injured about two dozen people Friday.
The southwestern part of Tennessee was extremely hard hit, with several Memphis-area streets declared impassable. Corey Chaskelson, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said a levee had been breached along the Big Creek River in Millington, to the north of Memphis. He said 4 to 5 feet of water had flooded 200-300 homes at the Naval Support Activity base in Millington.
Emergency officials in Shelby County said hundreds of people were being evacuated due to high water, including residents of the Navy base and inmates at a federal prison.
Bob Nations, director of the Shelby County Office of Preparedness, said most of the roads into and out of Millington had been cut off by flooding.
At the Baker Community Center in Millington, where a Red Cross shelter was set up, retiree Joe Curry, 74, said he and his wife were rescued from their home in a boat Saturday morning after the water had risen to 7 feet.
"It rose so fast we couldn't get out," said Curry, who spent the day at the Red Cross shelter until family members could pick him up. "It's a mess."
Erick Hooper, 19, said there was water in his living room when he woke up Saturday morning.
"It kept rising, and it was too cold to swim, so I went on the roof," he said.
Hooper spent the day on the roof of the mobile home until rescuers picked him up in a boat. A pillow and a blanket were all he managed to take with him.
Jerry Fritts of the Red Cross said about 100 people were expected to spend the night at the Millington shelter.
Waters were washing away parts of roads and bridges in the Jackson area, said Marty Clements, director of the Jackson-Madison County Emergency Management Agency.
"We've basically become an island because the major highways and roads are cut off," he said Saturday evening.
Clements said there have been gas leaks and water main breaks due to the flooding and both area hospitals were running on generators temporarily during the day.
He said emergency officials have asked all events be canceled on Sunday, even church services, to keep people from trying to venture out in the floodwaters.
Charles Shannon, a spokesman for the Nashville Fire Department, said one person drowned in flood waters on Interstate 24 south of Nashville.
In Nashville, emergency responders had rescued 50 people from flooding, Mayor Karl Dean said. Police Chief Ronal Serpas said two police officers had to be rescued from a tree.
The National Weather Service said up to 12 inches of rain had fallen along areas of Interstate 40 since midnight and up to 6 more inches was expected through Sunday.
In Arkansas, Gov. Mike Beebe declared a state of emergency after visiting a community south of Little Rock hit hard by Friday's storms, and he was scheduled Sunday to visit heavily damaged areas north of the city.
Associated Press Writers Shelia Byrd in Jackson, Miss., Chris Talbott and Kristin Hall in Nashville and Andrew Demillo in Scotland, Ark., contributed to this story.
Thanks, I hope they head home today and the river doesn’t rise too high through downtown.
I just heard from daughter and they told them to be ready to go by 8 a.m. From her last message last night the hotel sounded a bit less than desirable but better safe in a creepy hotel than stranded on the interstate in flood waters. They are all such wonderful kids.
Death toll is reported at up to 15 people now. I am in Nashville, grew up in Bellevue and cannot believe the devastation. I am amazed and infuriated at the lack of national coverage this weekend. 1000s of homes damaged or lost.
Being as the established timeline is twelve days for oil spills, you’ll probably get some casual comment around Memorial Day.
Apparantly they evacuated downtown nashville...
But it must have been just precautionary...
Downtown Nashville has hills...
1st and 2nd Avenue downtown took on water up over car roofs. Fortunately most of the flooding in downtown is the first floors or basements. The other side of the Cumberland is under water however. Opryland Hotel and the adjacent Mall are flooded too.
Once in the room, a chamber of commerce brochure pointed out a Civil War battlefield - Salem Cemetery. I jumped for joy, and we hopped in the car and drove the twenty miles thru the rural area......turns out the map was to the home of some director, and no battlefield was to be found.
We're a county north, in Tipton county. There are a lot of homes and businesses that flooded here - including 3 houses less than 1/2 mile from us. (I knew when they built those houses in the flood plain of a creek that one day they were goners).
Obama doesn’t care about white people.
There. I’ve said it.
Take THAT Kanye!!!
Prayers to the flood victims.
That’s awful. We lived in an older development, no basements low middle income. The houses were probably built late 60’s early 70’s. I don’t remember a creek anywhere close to us.
ain’t you mostly white folk there in Nashville?....I mean, really, don’t you like, kinda deserve all this?../sarcasm/
I hope it is!
OT...but...did you know that Weidmann’s has closed it’s doors?
Sad...but never the same after Shorty McWilliams gave up the dawg.
barely...some damage...now the city is on my ass
i own a chain of car washes...they pursue us to conserve water meanwhile bottling plants etc run full speed ahead
my average wash uses 8 time avg home use
some factories do that in an hour
I hope to visit friends near Pittsburg this year. Pennysylvania is a beautiful state. Been through parts of it on tours before...just gorgeous! Is the cemetery the one at the old Methodist Church? I actually work in Lavinia. Glad you made it home safely.
We're in the other end of the state from Pittsburgh. It's a beautiful state - I hope you get in a visit!
Sorry to have taken so long to reply. Been on the road, assessing flood damage, etc. Church aand cemetery are just fine in Lavinia. The old grocery store still is falling down, as you have seen. Needs to be leveled for saftey issues. No flooding of residences except to one house on Hwy 220 and three Fry Rd residences. The old Post Office (little white block building) is still standing, the old school is undamaged. New Post Office on the hill sustained no damage, nor did the historic two-story house next to it.
Mama Judy’s newest restaurant is just fine and taking care of the National Guard Training folks, and units coming in for pre-deployment. I’m sure I will be getting back to Pennysylvania one day and I’m looking forward to it. Heading to Alaska next, getting packed to go now. God Bless You and thanks for your reply . Be seein’ ya !
You're right about the old store of course. It was family owned, so we'd be sorry to see it go, but it's probably past fixing. My husband tells stories about how his uncle used to serve the local community and farmers from that store, extending credit on a handshake to his neighbors. There used to be a wonderful old Coke cooler out front full of cold drinks, which was a favorite of my husband's when he was a little dude. There aren't so many farmers now, and people can drive further to meet their needs. Country stores like that aren't as necessary as they once were. Time moves on.
If you ever get to the eastern end of PA, please let us hear from you.
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