2021-8-21. Major flooding in Waverly, TN.

[RZ Fortner]

Flooding in Humphreys County Tennessee. 17.08 inches of rain measured by the TVA rain gauge in just a few hours. Houses swept off the foundation including mine. My house isn’t even in the same street it’s supposed to be. 18 confirmed dead so far. 40-50 still missing. Half of the deceased recovered are unidentified. Rescue efforts are still and will be in effect for several days.

 

[Warren Faidley]

Sorry to hear about your home and those who suffered other losses.

 

[RZ Fortner]

It’s ok. I was able to get my family out seconds before it hit. Most others were not so lucky. It happened fast and while everyone was still asleep. My team was activated and as soon as my family was out I was back on the mission. It’s extremely humbling to see everything you’ve ever worked for lost in a few seconds. But it can all be replaced. And to top that off we had a confirmed tornado during the mix of the flooding, which was probably more of a water spout hahah

 

[Mike Smith]

While my analysis is not yet complete, it appears there was a massive failure of the models to anticipate this event. As a result, there was no "heads up" prior to people retiring for the night. The warnings issued early in the event, likely due to the lack of guidance, were not nearly aggressive enough. There was nothing that would cause a person to say, "We need to get out of here!"

I'll post when I have my analysis finished.

 

[RZ Fortner]

No there was absolutely nothing. I got an emergency alert about 10 minutes before the “O-F*****” moment, and everyone was asleep. But it was not an evacuation order or anything. It was a simple flash flood warning which we get weekly here. It wasn’t until looked out the door and saw water coming from places it should not have been coming from that the pucker factor hit. By that time it was to late for most people.. I was lucky.

 

[Dean Baron]

I read some comments on Facebook that part of the problem was one of the rivers flooded and a railroad bridge near town got blocked up with debris, effectively creating a dam at the bridge. Once that debris finally gave in, the "dam" broke and all the water that had pooled up is what came in and did a lot of the damage. Do you know if there is any truth to that? I can't imagine what this must've been like, especially when it happened basically out of nowhere.

 

[Mike Smith]

RZ, do you remember what time the WEA (assuming that is what it was) triggered?

 

[Mike Smith]

Here is an overview of the forecast and warning guidance and the subsequent public warnings Saturday morning in Tennessee.

The Catastrophic Tennessee Flash Flood - Why The United States Needs a National Disaster Review Board

While it is important for meteorologists to make accurate forecasts in situations of “partly cloudy and 70° with light winds,” it is vital t...

www.mikesmithenterprisesblog.com

 

[John Robinson]

Devastated areas were still being found more than 48 hours after the flood swept through.

Here is some information from WKRN's Web site. The sheriff referred to is Chis Davis from Humphreys County...

Sheriff Davis confirmed late Monday afternoon that after flying in a helicopter with Tennessee Highway Patrol they discovered at least 100 more homes that have been forced off their foundations. He described it as “an island surrounding some people trapped that we didn’t know about.”

 

[RZ Fortner]

Total homes damages were over 500, my house was one of the 272 that were completely destroyed inside the city limits. We have found all missing people that have been reported, and are up to 20 confirmed DOA.

 

[RZ Fortner]

Mike, The WEA I received was around 730-745. Barely enough time to get out. I was swimming at 8 and when it went off there was standing rain water in my yard. It happened fast, true flash flooding. And it happened while everyone was asleep. If it happened during a week day all the kids in school would be dead, if it had happened any earlier everyone would have drowned in there sleep….. it was a nightmare straight from a movie. After I got my family out our rescue missions started, and it was like a bomb went off

 

[RZ Fortner]

Dean, part of that is true. We got a lot of rain, but McEwen got over 17 inches. McEwen is up hill and to the east of us, all the rain ran downhill to the west following the creeks. The railroad did catch a lot and created a dam. Eventually the water pressure pushed the train track gravel out of the way and broke the “levee”. That caused a majority of the flash flooding. But even if the train tracks weren’t there, we still would have gotten that water. So I can’t say it caused it, but maybe caused some extra force.

 

[Mike Smith]

Thank you, RZ. Your information is very helpful.