Nashville declares emergency after deadly flash flooding kills at least four people
Nashville has declared a state of emergency after flash flooding overnight Saturday killed at least four people in the area.
Nashville Mayor John Cooper signed an executive order declaring the state of emergency Sunday, saying in a tweet that Davidson County would need state and federal resources after the severe weather.
"We send our deepest sympathies to the loved ones of the four Nashvillians who died in last night's flooding," Cooper said in separate post on Twitter. "Metro's first responders have worked tirelessly following the city's second-highest ever two-day rainfall, which flooded neighborhoods across the county."
Flooding Saturday evening into early Sunday morning led to reports of people clinging to trees and taking refuge in their attics to avoid rising water, the National Weather Service in Nashville said.
The Nashville Fire Department's swift water rescue teams had pulled at least 130 people from vehicles and homes as of Sunday morning, the Nashville Office of Emergency Management said.
Search and rescue crews found a deceased man inside a car submerged by floodwater near a Walmart store next to a creek, the Metro Nashville Police Department said on Twitter. Officials later identified the man as Garry Cole, 70, of South Nashville.
The weather service earlier reported water entering a Walmart store in southern Nashville with cars in the parking lot submerged up to their windows.
A second man was found dead on the Nashboro Village golf course, police said.
He was identified as 65-year-old Douglas Hammond, according to a tweet on the Metro Nashville Police Department's (MNPD) verified Twitter account. Police characterized Hammond as an "apparent drowning victim," and said he lived near the golf course.
Police believe Hammond was "swept away by flood waters after getting out of his car that had become stuck on Flintlock Ct," near the Nashboro golf course, the MNPD said.
The bodies of a man, 64, and woman aged 46 were also found Sunday near a homeless camp adjacent to Wentworth-Caldwell Park, police said.
At least 15 people were rescued from an apartment complex after a building was damaged by a mudslide, the fire department said. Two of those rescued were taken to local hospitals with non-critical injuries.
The fire department said it also rescued about 40 dogs from a pet day care facility called Camp Bow Wow.
Rainfall totals across the middle Tennessee region since Saturday ranged from 4 to 8 inches, the NWS said. The Brentwood area of Nashville may have received 7 to 9 inches of rain, according to radar rainfall estimates.
The Nashville airport recorded at least 7 inches of rain since Saturday -- making the two-day rainfall total the second-largest on record, trailing only 13.5 inches of rain that fell from May 1 to 2, 2010. More than 5 inches of rain fell between 10 p.m. local time Saturday and 5 a.m. Sunday, the NWS said.
The fast-falling rain inundated several rivers, creeks and streams, forcing them to breach their banks. Moderate-to-major river flooding was ongoing across the region Sunday morning.
The Cumberland River, which flows through downtown Nashville, was expected to reach its flood stage, which is 40 feet, just after 1 p.m. local time Sunday and peak at 41.9 feet shortly after midnight, according to Nashville Mayor John Cooper.