https://apnews.com/article/floods-tennessee-dee3602205c998e6c1846e83a87fbd9d
By JONATHAN MATTISE and TRAVIS LOLLER
Aug. 25, 2021
The body of the final person missing from a devastating weekend flood in Middle Tennessee was recovered on Wednesday, prompting the search for victims to be suspended as the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency toured the area.
Saturday’s flooding took out houses, roads, cellphone towers and telephone lines, with rainfall that more than tripled forecasts and shattered the state record for one-day rainfall. More than 270 homes were destroyed and 160 took major damage, according to the Humphreys County Emergency Management Agency.
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The death count stands at 20, according to county authorities, although the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency had put it at 17 at mid-day on Wednesday. That discrepancy is because TEMA’s detailed process in confirming deaths can take longer to complete, agency Director Patrick Sheehan said.
FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell and Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee toured the area together on Wednesday. Afterward, Criswell noted how scientists have linked climate change to increasingly intense weather events like the Tennessee floods.
“Floods like this are not something that we see typically around the country,” Criswell said at a Nashville news conference after the tour. “And as we continue to see the changes from climate change, I fear that this may be something that we start to see see more often.”
Lee, a Republican, sidestepped the climate change discussion when asked about his position on its role.
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tags: extreme weather, severe weather
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