Flash Flood — Smith, Tennessee

2016-05-11 · near Rome, Smith, Tennessee

Event narrative

Major flash flooding affected northern Smith County, especially the Dixon Springs and Riddleton areas. Numerous primary and secondary roads along with private driveways and bridges were flooded and closed or even washed out, including Highway 25, Bowmans Branch Lane, Wilburn Hollow Road, and Young Branch Road. One car reportedly was washed away into a creek off Highway 25 in Riddleton. Several homes were also flooded in these same areas. The Smith County Highway Superintendent stated that it would take at least 8 weeks to repair all the flood damage to the road network across the county. At least 2 water rescues from homes were conducted on Wilburn Hollow Road.

Wider weather episode

The largest severe weather event of Spring 2016 across Middle Tennessee affected areas mainly north of I-40 from the late evening hours on May 10 into the morning hours on May 11. Widely scattered supercell thunderstorms moved southeast out of Kentucky, producing dozens of reports of wind damage and large hail up to tennis ball size. Storms began training along an outflow boundary situated northwest to southeast from Robertson County to Cumberland County during the early morning hours on May 11, with heavy rainfall of 3 to 7 inches occurring across Robertson, Sumner, Macon, Trousdale, Wilson, Smith, and Putnam Counties. Major flash flooding across these counties resulted in dozens of homes and businesses flooded, numerous roads being flooded and closed or washed out, and several water rescues from flooded homes and vehicles being conducted.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (36.2872, -86.1231)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 628729. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.