Tenn. crews scour debris for victims of flooding
WAVERLY, Tenn. — Crews with chainsaws and heavy equipment cleared their way through trees densely matted with vegetation, garbage and building debris Tuesday as searchers scoured a normally shallow creek for more flooding victims in rural Tennessee.
Even cars and sheds were woven into the tangle of debris lining Trace Creek in Humphreys County, where the town of Waverly saw the most death and destruction from Saturday’s flooding that killed 18 people. Three people remained unaccounted for Tuesday.
Sheriff’s deputies and police were aided by crews from agencies all over the state, he said. The teams have cadaver dogs at the ready if they suspect a body might be nearby.
As the search for the missing continues, officials have started to comprehend the scope of devastation in the community. Humphreys County Sheriff Chris Davis said hundreds of homes have been affected by the flooding and estimated about 125 were ruined.
“Some are just gone — off the foundation, twisted, turned,” Sheriff Davis said at the news conference. “They would probably have to be totally destroyed before they could be built back.”
Authorities revised the confirmed death toll to 18 people Tuesday, a drop from as high as 22. Waverly police Chief Grant Gillespie said some people who were in the emergency room and died of natural causes were mistakenly added to the count.
Chief Gillespie said authorities had detectives follow up on each case and confirm the numbers, which now line up with the state tally.
Three people are still on the list of those missing who witnesses said they saw in the water, he said.
The flooding took out roads, cellphone towers and telephone lines in the county of about 18,000 people, leaving some uncertain about whether family and friends survived the unprecedented deluge, with rainfall that more than tripled forecasts and shattered the state’s oneday record.
It also left large swaths of the community about 60 miles west of Nashville suddenly displaced.