Horrific Flash Flood In Tennessee; Vermont Dodges Henri's Bullet

Destruction from extreme flash flooding in central

Tennessee this past weekend. Up to 17 inches

of rain fell in a few hours, sending a tsunami-like

flash flood that killed at least 22 people. 

 While all eyes have been on Tropical Storm Henri over the weekend, a incredible, and terribly tragic  flood just struck middle Tennessee.

On the western side of the upper level low pressure system that tugged Henri toward New England, an incredibly prolific training thunderstorm focused on an area west of Nashville.  

Training thunderstorms, as you might remember, are basically a series of thunderstorms that go over the same path, much like boxcars moving along railroad tracks.

This type of setup often causes scary flash floods, but this one went above and beyond, with tragic results.  At least 22 people died in the flash flood in and near Waverly, Tennessee and many more are missing. 

Up to 17 inches of rain fell in less than 24 hours, shattering Tennessee's record for 24 hour rainfall by at least three inches.

What was described as a tsunami caused by the rain roared into Waverly, sweeping away cars, houses, buildings and people. It came so fast and so hard that nothing could be done to rescue people caught in the torrents.i'm reading terrible story after terrible story about this flood.  Twin babies were killed when they were swept from their father's arms. 

A man names Wayne Spears, a foreman at Loretta Lynn's ranch, went out to the barn to check on the animals when the flash flood roared in, sweeping him away to his death. 

This type of mega-flash flood is getting more common as climate change continues. The warmer air can hold more moisture than before, so under the right circumstances, this moisture can be wrung out in greater quantities than before.

This really was a sneaker attack, in a way.  Everybody, including me, was all Henri, Henri, Henri, during the weekend, when sadly, the real awful death and destruction was in Tennessee.

Waverly wasn't the only place to have such record rainfall this weekend.  This wasn't nearly as dramatic, but New York City had its wettest hour on record Saturday night when just under two inches of rain fell within 60 minutes.

HENRI UPDATE

That was part of a storm total of 4.45 inches Saturday night. So far, Central Park has gotten 7.3 inches of rain from Tropical Storm Henri, and it was still coming down as of early this morning.   

The cloud pattern over the Northeast for what was Tropical

Storm Henri makes for a pretty pattern in this 

satellite photo. From the ground, Henri's clouds have

been photogenic from the ground, too. Vermont dodged

a bullet with Henri, with little if any flooding so far

Most of Henri's flooding was a west and a little south of where it had been anticipated a few days ago.

 The Catskills, the New York City metro area, the northern half of New Jersey and the northeastern corner of Pennsylvania got the worst of it.   Most of this area got four to nine inches of rain, and it was still coming down as of early this morning. 

The remains of Henri having made it west to the Catskills, will stagger back to the east today, prompting more flood warnings in places like Connecticut and the lower Hudson Valley of New York.

Vermont really dodged a bullet with this one.  There was potential for some serious flooding in the far southern part of the state, but that did not happen.  There is still a flood watch in the southeast corner of Vermont, but I don't think the trouble will be widespread.

Flood watches that had extended into central Vermont have been lifted, as no flooding is anticipated now. Though some showers and thunderstorms might develop as a result of Henri in southern Vermont, most of them will not be enough to cause flooding, except maybe in Windham County.

There's a very low chance of showers and thunderstorms in northern Vermont. The only effects we've had from Henri so far is beautiful skies and incredibly clean air. 

We've had a lot of haze and even smoke from wildfires out west all summer so the deep blue skies in northern Vermont yesterday and this morning were a treat.  As was the total lack of haze. The Green Mountains finally looked, well, green, and not blurry and slate blue from the haze in the air.

The air we are enjoying now has come all the way from the currently wildfire-free tropics, so it's pretty pristine.  Basically we in  Vermont are breathing air that was in Barbados or some place like that a week ago.

Video from Tennessee.  Mobile uses click on the hyperlink, others, click on the video itself for a better view.

House being swept away in Tennessee: