Heavy Rain — Hamilton, Tennessee

2025-08-12 · near East Ridge, Hamilton, Tennessee

Direct deaths

$25K

Property damage

Event narrative

Waterlogged soils caused a large oak tree to fall and crush a car, killing the family of 3 within the vehicle. Calm to near calm winds were observed at the time of the incident off the nearby Chattanooga ASOS.

Wider weather episode

A weak upper low helped advect near record moisture into Tennessee, where a boundary and classic heavy rain profiles combined to produce extreme rainfall rates over portions of Chattanooga, leading to numerous water rescues, a few evacuations, flooded interstate and local roads, flooded homes, and unfortunately a few fatalities. One fatality occurred in the east Brainerd area after a driver went around police barricades and was swept away in the flood waters. Damage estimates as of September 2025 were at least $1.7 million dollars per emergency management.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (34.9991, -85.2358)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1283123. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.