Summer Of Floods Continue With Deaths, Serious Damage In Tennessee, Other Floods Pop Up Elsewhere

Flooding in Chattanooga, Tennessee this week. If you
look closely you can see a couple cars floating in
a whirlpool that formed on the highway. 

 The latest victims in our summer of flash floods has hit Tennessee, where four people died in the storms earlier this week. 

The storms that poured more than six inches of rain Tuesday on parts of Tennessee within hours. Chattanooga reported 6.4 inches of rain, its second wettest day on record. In Tuesday's storm, with 5.3 inches coming within three hours and 2.3 inches within an hour. 

A mother, father and child were killed in a Chattanooga suburb when saturated ground caused a large tree to fall on their car, the Associated Press reported. A fourth man died when he ran past firefighters and a barricade blocking a flooded road. 

The flooding came so fast that dozens of cars got stuck on Interstate 24 as water went from two inches deep to as much as four feet before anybody could get out of the way. Bystanders and rescue crews rescued up to 35 people from flooded vehicles there. 

A large whirlpool formed on the Interstate, with debris and even a couple cars floating and rotating in a circle where the water was trying to drain. 

The whole region was swamped by both water and emergency calls.

Per AP:

"There were so many calls for help that 911 calls were 'holding in every minute of every hour for about three hours straight,' with more than 940 calls between 6 p.m. and midnight, said Barbara Loveless, director of operations for Hamilton County 911. "

Elsewhere, flash flooding damaged homes and businesses, and blocked roads in Scranton and Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania on Wednesday. Several cars were trapped, and a local theater group's headquarters suffered flood damage to costumes, props, carpets and floors. 

 The flood death in Tennessee this week adds to an especially tragic year for floods in the United States. In addition to the 135 deaths in the July 4 Texas flood, at least a couple dozen other deaths have occurred in U.S. floods so far this year. Complete figures on flood deaths are not yet available for this year. 

And it's not over. Flash floods are anticipated today, tomorrow and Sunday in parts of Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa. That's bad news in particular for Wisconsin, as Milwaukee just had a serious flash flood last weekend. 

Video:

Scenes from the Chattanooga flood, including inundated roads and homes. Click on this link to view, or if you see the image below, click on that.