This week, East and Middle Tennessee once again are under a heavy rainfall and flood watch thanks to not one but two winter storms with potential for strong to severe storms and flooding, according to National Weather Service forecasts.Īn aerial view shows a neighborhood affected by landslides in Petropolis, Brazil, Wednesday, Feb. That was the same day that much of nearby Waverly washed away - killing 20 people, destroying 270 homes and causing major damage to 160 more. We're seen record rainfalls in recent years, including one that dumped 20.73 inches of rain in 24 hours last August in Milan, Tennessee. And we often have 2-to-3-inch rain events in just one day.īut in our river-rich state, rainfalls are increasing as they are in many other areas of the globe, thanks to climate change. 5, 2011, according to the National Weather Service. Our city's highest rainfall total in one day was 9.49 inches on Sept. In Chattanooga, we've not yet seen that kind of rain concentrated here. In Brazil - home to the world's greatest rainforest - that record rain for the city of Petrópolis, set in a mountainous region much like ours but 40 miles northeast of the oceanfront Rio de Janeiro, was a mere 10.2 inches in 24 hours - surpassing the city's previous record set in 1932. The tragedy may be thousands of miles away, but aerial video of rushing water and splintered homes looks like what we might imagine on the hills and ridges of Chattanooga if similar unimaginable record rains fell on newly built, dense housing developments that have cropped up on the bowl-like sides of our metro area. Reuters on Monday reported 176 killed and more than 110 missing. "A relentless downpour in a mountainous region of Brazil's Rio de Janeiro state triggered flooding and massive mudslides that have killed at least 110 people, authorities said" as they "braced" for the toll to rise.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |