Dozens of people were rescued as cars were swept away and neighborhoods were swamped. “We’re not out of the woods yet,” officials said, as water levels climbed on the Cumberland River.
Unrelenting rainfall in Nashville turned roads to rapids, sweeping vehicles off the streets and drowning a motorist who was carried away, one of at least four people killed during a storm that continued to threaten the city on Sunday, the authorities said. The water also gushed through neighborhoods, flooding houses and stranding dozens of people who needed to be rescued. And even after the rain stopped, officials urged residents to remain vigilant, as the rivers and creeks coursing through Nashville continued to rise and were not expected to crest until late Sunday or early Monday. “We’re not out of the woods yet,” Chief John Drake of the Nashville Police Department said during a news conference on Sunday. “We still have to pay attention to it.” Flash flood warnings continued into Sunday for a stretch of Middle Tennessee after just over seven inches of rain had fallen in some parts of the region. It was the second-highest two-day rainfall in Nashville’s recorded history. The pounding rain and climbing water rekindled for many the agonizing memories of a flood in 2010 that was among the worst in the city’s history, as 13 inches of rain fell over 36 hours, leaving 26 people dead and destruction that took months to clean up. City officials said the enduring lessons from that flood informed the response this weekend, as the previous event had led to improved communications systems and the bolstering of the Fire Department’s swift water rescue capabilities.
