Tennessee sees 2nd day of rain, flooding; commuter rail line washed out

Tennessee sees 2nd day of rain, flooding

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Deluged Tennessee saw more rain Thursday that washed out a commuter rail line a day after flooding swept away a home, trapped drivers in their vehicles and derailed a freight train.

And forecasters were expecting more heavy showers to fall over the Southeast.

The downpours that began Wednesday hit some of the same parts of Middle Tennessee that were inundated with severe flooding in May, but forecasters don’t foresee it wreaking the same kind of havoc. Portions of Middle and East Tennessee as well as areas of southern Kentucky and western North Carolina and Virginia have been under flash flood warnings or watches.

Fred Tucker, spokesman for the Nashville district Army Corps of Engineers, said due to heavy overnight rainfall above Old Hickory Dam, the agency increased discharges from Cordell Hull, Old Hickory and Cheatham dams to let water downstream.

The National Weather Service predicted a 40-foot crest for the Cumberland River at Nashville at 1 a.m. Friday. That is considered flood stage, but by comparison, the Nashville crest was 51.86 feet in the May flooding.

“We will continue to monitor this event closely, communicating with federal, state and local agencies as we attempt to minimize possible flood damage,” Tucker said.

A round of heavy rain set off fresh flash flooding just northeast of Nashville early Thursday, washing out rails that carry a commuter train between Nashville and Lebanon.

“The track has been washed out between Lebanon and Mt. Juliet,” said Patricia Harris-Morehead, spokeswoman for the Regional Transportation Authority. Transit buses were dispatched to pick up Music City Star passengers at the terminal.

In Mt. Juliet, shop owner Richard Dorer awoke Thursday and was watching the morning television news when he saw the strip mall where his Teach a Child store is located was flooded. The store sells educational books, games and CDs.

Dorer said the store was also swamped when historic flooding struck in early May.

“That was supposed to be a once in a thousand year flood and now its twice in a thousand years,” Dorer said. “We will be lucky to come back from this.”

Wayne Tyler operates a karate studio in the same mall and his business had a couple of inches of water in it.

“Mother nature gives us trials, but nobody drowned,” Tyler said.

National Weather Service forecaster John Cohen said 4 to 6 inches of rain deluged the area where Dorer’s shop is located, beginning around 10 p.m. Wednesday and lasting about five hours.

“Areas northeast (of Nashville) really got hit hard,” Cohen said.

“There were a few water rescues in the Mt. Juliet area and a number of roads were closed in Gallatin,” Cohen said.

The system had weakened considerably and moved eastward by sunrise. National Weather Service forecaster Bobby Boyd said over the past two days, among the hardest hit areas were Cookeville, which received 11.43 inches, while Westmoreland got 15.96 inches and Carthage, 11.29.

In southeastern Kentucky, heavy rain figured into at least one injury accident and caused officials to close a state highway, concerned that a mud slide could occur.

Kentucky State Police said a man who was trying to drive his car under an overhang at a Corbin supermarket so his wife could stay out of the rain accidentally pushed on the accelerator and backed into the store, running over her Wednesday afternoon. The 76-year-old woman was taken to the University of Kentucky Hospital in Lexington.

Near Jackson, Ky. 15 remained closed Thursday after authorities closed it Wednesday as a precaution at a place where a rock slide had closed the road about a month ago.

Much of the damage in Tennessee on Wednesday was in Putnam County, where a home floated off its foundation and a train carrying sand derailed when the tracks were washed away. Roads were washed out and some minor bridges were affected, but no injuries or deaths were reported, Tennessee Emergency Management Agency spokesman Jeremy Heidt said.

In rural Putnam County, the water had receded by Thursday morning, leaving some toppled trees along stream banks.

The National Weather Service declared a flash flood watch for all of eastern Tennessee for Friday, including the cities of Chattanooga, Knoxville and Johnson City.

The remnants of Tropical Depression 5 were interacting with a weak front over the region, creating waves of moderate to heavy rainfall, but officials did not expect the kind of massive flooding that hit Nashville on May 1.

“It’s kind of similar but moving through at a much quicker pace, which will keep the rainfall amounts well below what we saw in May,” said James LaRosa, a hydrologist with the National Weather Service in Nashville.

The floods in May killed 22 people in Tennessee and caused over $2 billion in damage in Nashville alone. Record two-day rains swelled the Cumberland River.

Associated Press writers Randall Dickerson, Erik Schelzig and Lucas Johnson II in Nashville contributed to this report.