dan9999
05-03-2010, 12:28 PM
Flooding leaves at least 15 dead in Southeast
By the CNN Wire Staff
May 3, 2010 7:52 a.m. EDT
(CNN) -- A storm that killed at least 15 people in Tennessee and Mississippi rolled into Georgia early Monday, flooding parts of Atlanta.
The rain and flooding left at least 11 dead Sunday in Tennessee, closing interstates, displacing thousands from their homes, prompting evacuations of hotels and nursing homes, and turning streets and parking lots into raging rivers.
Parts of the state were drenched with up to 20 inches of rain, and more was expected.
The storm also killed four people in Mississippi.
The system moved into Georgia on Monday, delaying flights into Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.
Heavy rainfall was expected to dump 2 to 3 inches of rain in north Georgia by 8 a.m. ET, and the National Weather Service issued a flash-flood warning for three metro Atlanta counties.
The storm snarled the morning commute in one of the most congested traffic areas in the nation. No deaths or injuries were immediately reported.
On Sunday night in Tennessee, multiple vehicles were trapped on Interstate 40 with water rising around them.
Authorities recovered bodies from a flooded house in Nashville and from an overturned vehicle floating on a flooded road, among other places, the mayor's office said Sunday night.
Two young men who'd gone tubing on a flooded creek Sunday evening were missing, the mayor's office said.
Also on Sunday night, authorities were working to evacuate more than 500 residents from the MetroCenter in North Nashville.
"All of our major creeks and the Cumberland River are near flood level, if not at flood level," Nashville Mayor Karl Dean said at a news conference Sunday, referring to the waterway that bisects Nashville. "The ground is entirely saturated, and the rain continues to fall. There's nowhere for the water to go."
Teams of inspectors will be mapping out the damage Monday morning, Nashville officials said.
The western two-thirds of Tennessee has seen between 6 and 20 inches of rain since Saturday, with flooding spreading to Kentucky.
In Nashville alone, more than 1,000 people were rescued from the water over the weekend, city officials said.
Dean said Sunday that more rain has fallen in Nashville in the last 24 hours than has ever been recorded in the city.
"We are still at this point in rescue stage and will be until the water begins to subside," he said.
Dean urged residents to skip work Monday. Nashville schools will be closed, and public transportation will be suspended.
Two of the three temporary shelters -- which can each house 200 people -- opened by the Nashville mayor's office had reached capacity by Sunday evening. The Red Cross reported about 400 people in 22 shelters throughout Tennessee.
The floods shut down parts of I-24, 40 and 65 around Nashville on Saturday and Sunday. They left 36,000 houses around Nashville without power Sunday, while all Davidson County residents were asked to use water only for essential purposes after flooding closed one of the city's water treatment plants.
Flooding also provoked the evacuation of three area nursing homes, affecting more than 250 patients, Dean said.
Opryland Hotel expected to lose power Sunday night, and staffers planned to ask guests to evacuate, according to Janel Lacey, a spokeswoman for the Nashville mayor's office.
While some streams around Nashville were starting to recede Sunday, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was planning to release dammed upstream water Sunday night, which could cause more flooding around Nashville, city emergency management chief Stephen Halford said.
The water needed to be released to keep the Army Corps equipment safe, Halford said.
The National Weather Service issued a civil emergency message Sunday to central and western Tennessee, telling people to stay off roads because too many are closed and people are getting stranded.
The weather service also issued a flood emergency for much of central Kentucky -- where tens of thousands were trying to get home after this weekend's Kentucky Derby -- and in south-central Indiana.
In Louisville, Kentucky, the National Turnpike and Gene Snyder Freeway were closed Sunday.
In addition to flooding fatalities, one Tennessean died over the weekend in a tornado in Hardeman County, the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency said Sunday.
By the CNN Wire Staff
May 3, 2010 7:52 a.m. EDT
(CNN) -- A storm that killed at least 15 people in Tennessee and Mississippi rolled into Georgia early Monday, flooding parts of Atlanta.
The rain and flooding left at least 11 dead Sunday in Tennessee, closing interstates, displacing thousands from their homes, prompting evacuations of hotels and nursing homes, and turning streets and parking lots into raging rivers.
Parts of the state were drenched with up to 20 inches of rain, and more was expected.
The storm also killed four people in Mississippi.
The system moved into Georgia on Monday, delaying flights into Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.
Heavy rainfall was expected to dump 2 to 3 inches of rain in north Georgia by 8 a.m. ET, and the National Weather Service issued a flash-flood warning for three metro Atlanta counties.
The storm snarled the morning commute in one of the most congested traffic areas in the nation. No deaths or injuries were immediately reported.
On Sunday night in Tennessee, multiple vehicles were trapped on Interstate 40 with water rising around them.
Authorities recovered bodies from a flooded house in Nashville and from an overturned vehicle floating on a flooded road, among other places, the mayor's office said Sunday night.
Two young men who'd gone tubing on a flooded creek Sunday evening were missing, the mayor's office said.
Also on Sunday night, authorities were working to evacuate more than 500 residents from the MetroCenter in North Nashville.
"All of our major creeks and the Cumberland River are near flood level, if not at flood level," Nashville Mayor Karl Dean said at a news conference Sunday, referring to the waterway that bisects Nashville. "The ground is entirely saturated, and the rain continues to fall. There's nowhere for the water to go."
Teams of inspectors will be mapping out the damage Monday morning, Nashville officials said.
The western two-thirds of Tennessee has seen between 6 and 20 inches of rain since Saturday, with flooding spreading to Kentucky.
In Nashville alone, more than 1,000 people were rescued from the water over the weekend, city officials said.
Dean said Sunday that more rain has fallen in Nashville in the last 24 hours than has ever been recorded in the city.
"We are still at this point in rescue stage and will be until the water begins to subside," he said.
Dean urged residents to skip work Monday. Nashville schools will be closed, and public transportation will be suspended.
Two of the three temporary shelters -- which can each house 200 people -- opened by the Nashville mayor's office had reached capacity by Sunday evening. The Red Cross reported about 400 people in 22 shelters throughout Tennessee.
The floods shut down parts of I-24, 40 and 65 around Nashville on Saturday and Sunday. They left 36,000 houses around Nashville without power Sunday, while all Davidson County residents were asked to use water only for essential purposes after flooding closed one of the city's water treatment plants.
Flooding also provoked the evacuation of three area nursing homes, affecting more than 250 patients, Dean said.
Opryland Hotel expected to lose power Sunday night, and staffers planned to ask guests to evacuate, according to Janel Lacey, a spokeswoman for the Nashville mayor's office.
While some streams around Nashville were starting to recede Sunday, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers was planning to release dammed upstream water Sunday night, which could cause more flooding around Nashville, city emergency management chief Stephen Halford said.
The water needed to be released to keep the Army Corps equipment safe, Halford said.
The National Weather Service issued a civil emergency message Sunday to central and western Tennessee, telling people to stay off roads because too many are closed and people are getting stranded.
The weather service also issued a flood emergency for much of central Kentucky -- where tens of thousands were trying to get home after this weekend's Kentucky Derby -- and in south-central Indiana.
In Louisville, Kentucky, the National Turnpike and Gene Snyder Freeway were closed Sunday.
In addition to flooding fatalities, one Tennessean died over the weekend in a tornado in Hardeman County, the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency said Sunday.