Flash Flood in Obion County, Tennessee

Significant flooding occurred in Rives, TN due to a levee overtopping. The entire town was flooded. All 105 homes suffered at least some damage with 60 homes suffering significant damage. Roads and culverts throughout town were damaged.

An upper-level trough crossed the Four Corners region and dipped into northern Mexico on February 14, 2025. In response, deep southwesterly flow set up over the Lower Mississippi Valley and advected Gulf moisture poleward. Showers and thunderstorms blossomed across the region during the early morning hours on February 15, 2025. Meanwhile, a warm front quickly accelerated northward during the morning of February 15th as surface low pressure traversed the Southern Plains. The front stalled across the northern parts of the Mid-South. Heavy rainfall was focused along and north of the stalled front with 4 to 7 inches falling north of Interstate 40. Flash flooding was common across northwest Tennessee into northeast Arkansas during the day on February 15th. The event transitioned toward severe weather during the evening of February 15th as the airmass south of the warm front destabilized. The surface low tracked into north-central Arkansas and a line of severe storms developed and pushed across the Mid-South during the evening hours of February 15th exiting into Middle Tennessee and northern Alabama by midnight. Damaging winds, large hail, and a few weak tornadoes occurred. A levee overtopped and then breached in the Rives, TN area on February 16th, resulting in major flooding in the town.