Flood — Stewart, Tennessee

2010-05-01 · near Carlisle, Stewart, Tennessee

Event narrative

Mr. Ritenour and Mrs. Linda Ritenour became surrounded by high water while Mr. Ritenour was driving a Chevrolet Suburban across a low bridge on their property, which is approximately two miles west of State Route 49 between Tennessee Ridge and Dover, along Upper Alsup Road. A neighbor saw the couple's predicament and alerted another neighbor, Steve Zywicki, who rushed to the scene to help. Mr. Ritenour tried to throw a rope to his neighbor, who could not quite reach it and was swept away. Mr. and Mrs. Ritenour, along with the Suburban, were swept away also. The Suburban was carried at least one half mile downstream from the low bridge. Mr. Ritenour survived after he managed to reach safety on one of the banks of the roaring creek. Both Linda Ritenour and Steve Zywicki drowned as a result of the roaring creek waters. Linda Ritenour's body was recovered approximately a half-mile downstream and Steve Zywicki body was recovered about 250 yards from the low bridge.

Wider weather episode

A frontal boundary setup across Western and Middle Tennessee late Friday night (April 30), and remained through the weekend. A persistent southerly flow fed moisture into the area and precipitable water values rose to almost 2 inches, based on data from KOHX upper air soundings. As a series of shortwaves moved through, a band of showers and thunderstorms developed and remained nearly stationary for much of the day on Saturday, May 1st and Sunday, May 2nd, resulting in widespread record flooding across much of Middle Tennessee. Some of these thunderstorms became severe also, resulting in thunderstorm wind damage and seven confirmed tornadoes across Middle Tennessee.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (36.3489, -87.8171)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 266150. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.