How Record-Breaking Rainfall Flooded Middle Tennessee
Cumulative
weekend rainfall
0.5
2
4
8
12
16 inches
McEwen
17 inches
Nashville
Knoxville
Memphis
Chattanooga
Cumulative
weekend rainfall
0.5
2
4
8
12
16 inches
Nashville
Knoxville
McEwen
17 inches
Memphis
Chattanooga
Over the weekend, record-breaking rainfall in Middle Tennessee caused catastrophic floods, killing at least 20 people. Seventeen inches of rain were recorded on Saturday in McEwen, Tenn., topping the state’s 24-hour record of 13.6 inches and triggering flash flooding in lower elevations as rainwater flowed downhill.
Record levels of rain at higher
elevations around McEwen caused
a flash flood to sweep through the
valley, inundating Waverly.
McEwen
17 inches
TENNESSEE RIVER
Waverly
Trace creek
blue creek
16 inches
of rainfall
HURRICANE creek
New Johnsonville
duck river
12 inches
8 inches
TUMBLING creek
4 inches
2 inches
0.5 inches
sugar creek
PINEY RIVER
5 MILES
Record levels of rain at higher
elevations around McEwen caused
a flash flood to sweep through the
valley, inundating Waverly.
TENNESSEE RIVER
McEwen
17 inches
Waverly
Trace creek
blue creek
HURRICANE creek
16 inches
of rainfall
New Johnsonville
duck river
12 inches
8 inches
TUMBLING creek
4 inches
2 inches
sugar creek
0.5 inches
PINEY RIVER
5 MILES
Record levels of rain at higher
elevations around McEwen caused
a flash flood to sweep through the
valley, inundating Waverly.
TENNESSEE RIVER
McEwen
17 inches
Waverly
16 inches
of rainfall
12 inches
duck river
8 inches
4 inches
2 inches
0.5 inches
5 MILES
Record levels of rain at higher
elevations around McEwen caused
a flash flood to sweep through the
valley, inundating Waverly.
McEwen
17 inches
Waverly
16 inches
of rainfall
12 in.
duck river
8 in.
4 in.
2 in.
10 MILES
The flooding struck a hilly rural area crisscrossed by rivers and creeks in and around Humphreys County, about 70 miles west of Nashville.
The flash floods in the county were largely a result of the immense quantity of rain and how quickly it fell, said Krissy Hurley, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Nashville.
Hourly rainfall on Saturday in McEwen, Tenn.
3.3 inches
3 inches
2
1
8 p.m.
2 a.m.
8 a.m.
2 p.m.
3 inches
2
1
2 a.m.
8 a.m.
2 p.m.
8 p.m.
3.3 inches
3 inches
2
1
8 p.m.
2 a.m.
8 a.m.
2 p.m.
“It’s unprecedented for three to four inches of rain per hour to fall for three straight hours,” Ms. Hurley said.
Flooding is a result of both heavy rainfall and of the way water is managed — through dams, levees or retention ponds — as well as the local hydrology, or the way that water flows, collects and runs off the land.
Much of the rain that fell near McEwen flowed down to Waverly, a community of 4,100 people that sits several hundred feet lower. There, entire neighborhoods were washed away by the floodwaters.
Ms. Hurley explained that the water had been funneled into Trace Creek, which runs downstream through Waverly.