Record rainfall triggers deadly Tennessee flash floods; 4 dead

Nashville is under a state of emergency after record rainfall triggered deadly flooding.

More than seven inches submerged parts of the city, with the Cumberland River expected to crest in the early morning.

“[The water] started rising pretty quickly in the middle of the night,” said Lisa Durr, whose home was flooded.

Durr says she called for help for her family as well as their guest, visiting from the Chicago area.

“Everybody’s great,” she said. “Nobody’s hurt and they did a great job getting us out. We didn’t even get wet getting out.”

Crews rescued more than 130 people from rising waters. At least four deaths are being blamed on the heavy overnight rains, however.

“They used the boat to get out from the house and they tell us to get into the boat,” said Ulyses Rodriguez, who was rescued.

When flood waters rushed into his home, he called for help.

“We was in the roof on the top of the house because the inside was completely flooded so now we feel safer,” he said.

Not too far away, the flood forced its way into a 13,000 thousand square foot church, touching nearly everything in sight.

“Water just rushed in from the field, about waist high and just smashed through that garage door,” said Jarod Smith, Lead Pastor of New Tribe Church. “I mean literally, a river flowed right through the back of this building and pushed everything through the windows. It’s just unreal.”

Even those who lived through Middle Tennessee’s last big flood in 2010 – which caused 21 deaths in Tennessee and an estimated $1.5 billion in damage – were surprised by the severity of the weekend.

“There was no time to do anything,” one Nashville resident said. “When we saw it starting to come under the door, we tried to put towels and pillows and anything that’d stop it. [But the water] came up through the vents and we put everything we could on the tables and tried our best to save what we could and do the best we could.”

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