After Floods Kill Dozens, Thousands Without Power

(May 3) -- Thousands of residents evacuated from their homes can only watch and wait today in Tennessee, northern Mississippi and Kentucky, where rising floodwaters have submerged entire neighborhoods, killing at least 27 people, shutting down interstates and leaving thousands of residents without power.

The floods claimed at least 17 lives in Tennessee, six in Mississippi and four in Kentucky, as thunderstorms pelted middle Tennessee with record rainfall of almost 14 inches recorded at Nashville International Airport. The fatalities include two bodies that were recovered from a flooded house Monday and two more pulled from an upside-down car in the hard-hit neighborhood of Bellevue, south of Nashville, where thousands of residents are without power. A tornado also killed one person in Tennessee.

Bellevue resident Yancy Cook was forced to evacuate his apartment Saturday as the floodwaters rose.

"The water came up so quickly, I just had to get out. It was too late to start getting my things," Cook told AOL News. "I've never seen anything like it. I know Hurricane Katrina was worse, but I certainly have never seen anything like it."

The National Weather Service issued flood warnings for counties across the region, and Nashville Mayor Karl Dean declared a state of emergency as the Cumberland River rose to 51.5 feet today, 11.5 feet over its flood stage of 40 feet. Officials said the waters have begun to recede, sparing serious damage to Nashville's downtown tourist district and the LP Field that is home to the Tennessee Titans football team.

"Most places are seeing 4 to 6 feet of water and near the river, 10 to 20 feet," National Weather Service hydrologist James LaRosa told AOL News. "Depending on your location, the water can be waist deep up to well over your head."

Emergency crews conducted rescues by boat in the hardest-hit areas, including the Charlotte Pike neighborhood southwest of Nashville, where Cathy Frazier and her two dogs, Reba and Hannah Montana, waited for help for hours. The water destroyed her possessions.

"I was sitting on a dresser," she told The Tennessean of waiting for the rescue boat with her dogs. "They were on the bed and the bed was floating around the room."

The muddy water rushed into Audrey Talley's South Nashville trailer early Sunday, forcing her and her three young grandchildren to wade out through knee-deep water, she told The Associated Press.

"We've lost everything," Talley said at an emergency shelter at Lipscomb University. "I don't know what we're going to do. We've got nowhere to go."

The historic Opryland Hotel evacuated 1,500 guests to nearby McGavock High School at 9 p.m. Sunday as a precaution.

"They kept saying, 'It's getting worse, it's getting worse,'" one hotel guest told Nashville's WKRN-TV. "The next thing we know, they evacuated us to the ballroom. We thought we were going to go back to the rooms, but I guess not."

Williamson, Humphreys and Maury counties in Tennessee were among those that reported water main breaks and sewage treatment issues, pushing bottled water into high demand. Some 1,500 cases were delivered to Williamson County. Residents are being urged to use water only for drinking and food preparation.

Power was being restored today and the rain had stopped falling. But as the waters began to slowly recede, emergency crews were preparing for the possibility of more deaths near the Cumberland River.

"It would be nice if everyone stayed dry and no one lost their lives, but I think this is going to be a historical event that everyone remembers for the rest of their lives," LaRosa told AOL News.

With authorities warning residents that flooded roads and closed interstates were making travel extremely hazardous, Cook feared he would not be able to go back to his apartment in Bellevue today to assess the damage.

"I think that's just the worst part, not knowing. With a fire, you know everything's gone and you have to walk away," he told AOL News. "I just don't know. I can't even prepare myself."