Catastrophic flooding in Middle Tennessee
Tennessee
The central portion of the US state of Tennessee — left at least 10 people dead and dozens missing on Saturday as record-shattering rainfall washed away homes and rural roads, authorities said.
Business owner Kansas Klein watched in horror from a bridge on Saturday morning as cars and entire houses were swept down a road in Waverly, a town of about 4,500 people that Klein, 48, has called home for more than half his life.
Two girls who were holding on to a puppy and clinging to a wooden board swept past, far too fast for Klein and other onlookers to go down and grab hold of them.
After being told by authorities to go back, Klein returned a couple of hours later, shocked that the floodwaters had almost entirely receded and aghast at the destruction that was left behind. “It was amazing how quick it came and how quick it left,” Klein said.
Klein said his restaurant, a decade-old New York-style pizzeria, was still standing, but the morning deluge of between 250 to 300 millimetres of rain in Humphreys County had caused floodwaters to reach 2.1 metres inside the eatery, rendering it a total loss.—Agencies
