Several Days of Heavy Rains Soak Southeast, Cause Flooding, Road Closures

Homes, highways, parks and bridges throughout the South were flooded or put out of commission Saturday, as the toll of days of drenching rains swelled waterways and pooled over saturated lands amid a threat of severe storms.

Interstate 40 near the Tennessee line with North Carolina was closed by a rockslide, one of the dozens of roads and highways shut down throughout the South region, transportation officials said.

Tennessee Department of Transportation spokesman Mark Nagi said on Twitter that a “full scale detour” was in place, with traffic being diverted to Interstate 81 and Interstate 26.

In Bruce, Mississippi, rivers broke flood stage and flash floods poured into homes and businesses. News outlets report that a local state of emergency was declared by officials in Grenada, Mississippi, after dozens of streets and homes flooded. A six-mile (nine-kilometer) stretch of the Natchez Trace Parkway was closed in Mississippi after water covered part of the road. National Weather Service radar estimated the 2,000-person north Mississippi town saw 6 inches (15 centimeters) of rain Thursday and Friday.

One confirmed tornado struck a part of the east Mississippi city of Columbus on Saturday afternoon, authorities said. The tornado hit in a downtown area of the eastern Mississippi city about 5 p.m. CST Saturday but details of how long it remained on the ground weren’t immediately known, meteorologist Anna Wolverton with NWS in Jackson told The Associated Press.

NWS issued a flash flood warning for northwestern Lafayette County in Mississippi until Saturday evening after emergency officials reported that a dam was at risk of failing. Meteorologist Kole Fehling says emergency officials reported the threat involved the Audubon Dam, which blocks a creek on the northside of Oxford and a subdivision.

High water also threatened property in Tennessee, which, like many other areas of the South, has been soaked by several inches of rain over the past week. Officials said a mudslide destroyed a Subway restaurant in Signal Mountain, Tennessee. No injuries were reported.

Another mudslide on Thursday morning on State Route 70 in Tennessee involved two cars, killing one driver and injuring another. Hawkins County Emergency Management Director Gary Murrell told The Kingsport Times News that the body of 62-year-old Steven Lawson of Jonesborough was recovered from a vehicle around 11:45 a.m. Thursday. The Tennessee Highway Patrol reported his vehicle rolled down a 200-foot embankment and landed on its top.

The injured motorist was hospitalized after climbing down the side of Clinch Mountain. The road was blocked off to other traffic.

News outlets report that water rescues have been performed in some Middle Tennessee counties. Flash flood warnings and watches remained in place Saturday throughout the South.

Kentucky announced Friday that it was closing the U.S. 51 bridge over the Ohio River to Cairo, Illinois, because of flooding on the southern approach. The bridge, which carries 4,700 vehicles a day, is likely to stay closed until Thursday, and possibly longer.

Near Jamestown, Kentucky, the Army Corps of Engineers said it was increasing releases from the Wolf Creek Dam on the Cumberland River. Areas located downstream of the dam, from Rowena to Burkesville, could be affected by flooding as a result, officials said.

The Ohio River at Cairo was predicted to crest Sunday at its third-highest level ever recorded, and stay that high into next week. The Tennessee River near Savannah, Tennessee, also is forecast to crest at near-record levels.

In North Carolina, a Catawba County building inspector said extra weight from rain is suspected to have contributed to a partial roof collapse at a child day care center in Hickory. The Hickory Daily Record reported that firefighters responded to a roof collapse at Rainbow Child Care Center on Thursday morning. There were no children at the facility at the time, and no injuries were reported.

In Alabama’s Tennessee Valley, some roads were covered with water Friday and schools were closed after days of heavy rain.

As much as 4 inches of rain fell across a wide area of the state since Tuesday, swelling waterways. Forecasters say another 2 inches of rain was expected to fall on Saturday with nowhere for the water to go because the ground is saturated.

Volunteers were filling sandbags to try to save properties from the Skuna River in Mississippi, which jumped by 19 feet (5.8 meters) from noon Thursday to 2 p.m. Friday according to an automated gauge. Officials fear a further rise as water drains from upriver.

More than 30 school districts in Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee closed Friday, in part because school buses couldn’t navigate flooded roads.

Road officials in Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama and Mississippi reported Friday that more than 50 state or federal highways were closed by flooding, plus scores more local roads.

Floodwater is roaring through spillway gates on many dams on the Tennessee River.

“We’re seeing some of the highest rates we’ve seen in many decades,” said James Everett, manager of the Tennessee Valley Authority’s River Forecast Center. The federal agency controls the dams.

Flooding is also a concern on smaller rivers in the flat Mississippi Delta, where water can spread for miles when rivers overflow. Floodwaters have already entered a few houses in Greenwood, and that town’s mayor told The Greenwood Commonwealth that employees were working frantically to keep water moving through drainage ditches that pancake-flat towns rely on to carry away water.

Associated Press writers Jeff Amy, Adrian Sainz and Jay Reeves contributed to this report.