Flood in Pickett County, Tennessee

Jolly Creek Road was flooded and closed.

A stationary frontal boundary stalled near the Tennessee Valley for nearly a week in mid to late February 2019. Persistent southwest flow aloft brought copious amounts of Gulf of Mexico moisture northward and interacted with this boundary for many days, causing a prolonged period of heavy rain and flooding throughout Middle Tennessee from Tuesday, February 19 through early Sunday, February 24. Due to the heavy rainfall that had already fallen earlier in the month along with the already unusually wet winter season so far, widespread flash flooding and river flooding resulted, with dozens of water rescues being conducted and numerous homes and businesses flooded. This flood event was considered the worst in Middle Tennessee since the historic flood of May 2010, and damage from the flash flooding and river flooding resulted in a Presidential Disaster Declaration being declared for many Middle Tennessee counties on April 17, 2019. In addition, the heavy rainfall throughout February 2019 set new monthly rainfall records at many locations, including Nashville and Crossville, both of which saw over a foot of rain. By the end of the month, nearly the entire state of Tennessee had received between 10 and 20 of rain for February 2019.