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Flash flood in Tennessee leaves at least 22 dead, including baby twins ripped from dad's arms


A catastrophic flash flood in Tennessee has left at least 22 people dead — including infant twins swept from their father’s arms — and dozens more missing, officials and kin said Sunday. 

 

“Things are moving fast, and we are finding people left and right,” said Humphreys County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Rob Edwards to the New York Times. 

 

Among the fatalities were 7-month-old twins, identified as Ryan and Riliegh by grandma Angie Willeby to a Fox-TV affiliate in Nashville. The grandmother said the babies were swept from their father’s arms in Waverly during the flash flood Saturday.

 

Sheriff Chris Davis s fought back tears during a press briefing Sunday while revealing that one of his best friends was among the Middle Tennessee fatalities, too.

 

“They just went and got one of my best friends and recovered him. He drowned in this,” the emotional sheriff told WSMV.

 

“It’s tough, but we’re going to move forward,” he said.

 

“Today, we really are trying to get a good evaluation and overall picture and the extent of things.”

 

Between five and seven of the people still missing are children, and the confirmed dead range in age from “children to the elderly,” Davis told the outlet. 

 

A car stuck in a truck in Waverly after the flooding.Andrew Nelles/The Tennessean via AP
 
 
 
Cars turned over and crashed against telephone poles in Waverly.


Flood damage after the severe weather in Tennessee that left multiple people dead or missing.Andrew Nelles/The Tennessean via AP
 

On Saturday, small rural towns in the county were pummeled with as much as 17 inches of rain in less than 24 hours, possibly breaking the state’s previous single-day rainfall record of 13.6 inches recorded in 1982, according to the National Weather Service Nashville. The numbers still need to be checked before the record is made official. 

 

“We are working very diligently to identify, photograph, reunite and get some questions answered for families and that kind of thing right now, and that’s really tough, considering our logistics with our phones, with our communications,” the sheriff explained. 

 

Workers from Tennessee Emergency Management have set up shelters for residents in the towns of Waverly, Dickson and Centerville and a reunification center is open at McEwen High School, officials said. 

 

A man surveying the damaged roads after the Tennessee flooding.AP Photo/Mark Humphrey
 
 
A damaged photo album that was removed from a flooded home.Andrew Nelles/The Tennessean via AP


Read More Here: New York Post

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