Middle Tennessee gets severe storms, flooding

Severe storms and a few tornadoes were possible in Nashville and much of Middle and Tennessee on Sunday night, ending a month of scattershot weather that already has made the region more vulnerable to flash flooding.

The National Weather Service forecast that “a line of severe storms” would arrive in Middle Tennessee between 6 p.m. and midnight. The storms were expected to bring damaging winds up to 60 mph and another 1 to 3 inches of rain.

The rain may lead to sudden flooding in areas with poor drainage and is likely to swell creeks and streams immediately and cause large rivers to rise over the next few days, said meteorologist James LaRosa.

“Everything is already so wet, not just from the rain we’ve had, but also the snow,” LaRosa said. “The snow and ice that melted really saturated our soil, so whatever rain we get runs off very quickly.”

As of Sunday morning, the weather service predicted there was a 5% chance of a tornado within 25 miles of any given spot in much of Middle Tennessee and all of West Tennessee. Both Nashville and Memphis fell within the forecast area.

The weather service predicted a lower risk of about 2% reaching east to about Claiborne County.

La Rosa said Sunday storms likely would begin in the Clarksville area. Nashville and surrounding counties were unlikely to see heavy rain until the afternoon and evening.

Straight-line winds were the main threat, but tornadoes were possible.

Most of the storms were expected to be over by daybreak Monday. The weather is forecast to dry out on Monday night, followed by a 30% to 50% chance of more showers on Tuesday, then partly sunny and mostly clear skies on Wednesday, La Rosa said.