At least four people have died in Tennessee after torrential rains triggered flash flooding, submerged roads, and forced dramatic rescues, officials said Wednesday.
In East Ridge, a Chattanooga suburb, a family of three was killed when waterlogged soil caused a large tree to fall on their home just after midnight, according to Hamilton County Emergency Management spokesperson Amy Maxwell.
Authorities recovered a fourth body while searching for a man who had been swept away after bypassing firefighters and barricades on a flooded road Tuesday, the Chattanooga Fire Department said.
Officials said they were caught off guard by the intensity and speed of the flooding, which at one point left 60 vehicles stranded on a submerged interstate. First responders carried people on their backs to safety, placing them on the highway divider.
Chattanooga’s airport recorded more than 16 centimeters of rain Tuesday, the city’s second-wettest day since 1879. Parts of Interstate 24 were temporarily closed, and numerous homes and vehicles were inundated.
The US National Weather Service placed six million people under flood watches through Wednesday night, warning of more tropical-like heavy rain, flash flooding, and training storms over saturated areas.
Scientists link the increasing frequency of such extreme rainfall events in the US to climate change caused by fossil fuel pollution. Last month alone, the weather service issued more than 3,600 flash flood warnings nationwide, nearly matching the annual average.
