22 dead, many missing after 17 inches of rain in Tennessee

WAVERLY, Tennessee (AP) — At least 22 people were killed and rescue crews searched desperately Sunday amid shattered homes and tangled debris for dozens of people still missing after record-breaking rain sent floodwaters surging through Middle Tennessee.

Saturday's flooding in rural areas took out roads, cell phone towers and telephone lines, leaving families uncertain about whether their loved ones survived the unprecedented deluge.

Emergency workers were searching door to door, said Kristi Brown, a coordinator for health and safety supervisor with Humphreys County Schools.

Many of the missing live in the neighbourhoods where the water rose the fastest, Humphreys County Sheriff Chris Davis said.

Their names were on a board in the county's emergency centre and listed on a city department's Facebook page.

The dead included twin toddlers who were swept from their father's arms, according to surviving family members.

The sheriff of the county of about 18,000 people some 60 miles west of Nashville said he lost one of his best friends.

Up to 17 inches of rain fell in Humphreys County in less than 24 hours Saturday, appearing to shatter the Tennessee record for one-day rainfall by more than three inches, the National Weather Service said.

Tennessee Governor Bill Lee toured the area, stopping on Main Street in Waverly where some homes were washed off their foundations and people were sifting through their water-logged possessions.

Shirley Foster cried as the governor walked up.

She said she just learned a friend from her church was dead.

“I thought I was over the shock of all this. I'm just torn up over my friend. My house is nothing, but my friend is gone,” Foster told the governor.

The hardest-hit areas saw double the rain that area of Middle Tennessee had in the previous worst-case scenario for flooding, meteorologists said.

Lines of storms moved over the area for hours, wringing out a record amount of moisture — a scenario scientists have warned may be more common because of global warming.

The downpours rapidly turned the creeks that run behind backyards and through downtown Waverly into raging rapids.

Business owner Kansas Klein stood on a bridge Saturday in the town of 4,500 people and saw two girls who were holding on to a puppy and clinging to a wooden board sweep past, the current too fast for anyone to grab them.

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