New drone footage shows the devastating aftermath of a landslide that wiped out two homes in Tennessee just below the Pickwick Dam on Saturday as the area dealt with intense flooding and rainfall.
Hardin County Fire Chief and Emergency Management Director Melvin Martin said the landslide claimed not only two houses, whose residents got out safely, but also about 100 yards (91 meters) of the blufftop road in the Savannah, Tennessee, area. Meanwhile, most of the 75 homes down by the river that were flooded are vacation homes that were built on stilts, Martin said.
The Hardin County Fire Department shared on Facebook that the landslide occurred off Glendale Road, providing photos and drone footage of the carnage. They acknowledged that people would want to come and take the ‘perfect shot’ of the are but stressed that the road was ‘permanently closed.’
Hardin County Fire Chief and Emergency Management Director Melvin Martin said the landslide claimed not only two houses, whose residents got out safely, but also about 100 yards (91 meters) of the blufftop road in the Savannah, Tennessee, area
The Hardin County Fire Department shared on Facebook that the landslide occurred off Glendale Road, providing photos and drone footage of the carnage
They added that one of the homes was vacant at the time it collapsed, while occupants of a second home left before it eventually was destroyed.
Boat captain Sam Evans, who lives in a historic riverboat on Pickwick Lake, says this year’s flooding is among the worst he’s seen. Navigating the Tennessee River by boat, he’s watched the banks gradually erode, and said it was only a matter of time before the bluff gave way.
‘It has slowly been eroding and it finally let go,’ Evans told The Associated Press on Tuesday.
The area suffered a devastating flood in 2003, but then about 14 years passed without a catastrophe, and developers got busy selling riverfront properties, Evans said. He thinks the buyers weren’t fully aware of the danger.
Meanwhile, most of the 75 homes down by the river that were flooded are vacation homes that were built on stilts, Martin said
Authorities said that one of the homes was vacant at the time it collapsed, while occupants of a second home left before it eventually was destroyed
The road was permanently closed as authorities advised for people to steer clear
‘Out-of-towners came in that didn’t do their homework,’ he said. ‘Here comes a flood and it wipes them out … Buyer-beware when you buy below the dam. ‘
Things changed about three years ago, he said. ‘We’ve had three floods in the last three years, about the same time every year,’ Evans said.
Darrell Guinn, a manager at the TVA River Forecast Center, said Tuesday that the river system is now at level where it can absorb more rain without further impacting flooded areas.
Sprawling fields turned into large lakes throughout West Tennessee, including in the small town of Halls, where a cold rain fell steadily Tuesday. A Tennessee Department of Transportation crew worked to close state Highway 88 outside Halls, as water began moving over the road that connects U.S. Highway 51 and the Mississippi River.
Darrell Guinn, a manager at the TVA River Forecast Center, said Tuesday that the river system is now at level where it can absorb more rain without further impacting flooded areas
The US National Weather Service for Memphis, Tennessee, reports that snow will mix into the rain to bring about wintry precipitation along the north of I-40
According to the National Weather Service’s Weather Prediction Center, the Southeast is expecting rainfall in areas that have already been impacted by flooding.
The US National Weather Service for Memphis, Tennessee, reports that snow will mix into the rain to bring about wintry precipitation along the north of I-40.
Footage showed the shocking moment both homes were swept downstream during the landslide on Saturday.
Sparks crackled and lit up the night sky as one of the homes tore free from its wiring and toppled over the edge of the precipice in harrowing video footage of the slide.
Firefighters were called to Glendale Road around 5.15pm following reports of the landslide.
On Saturday two homes located on a cliff in Hardin County, Tennessee were swept into water in a dangerous landslide. No one was harmed in the slide as homeowners managed to evacuate when the imminent risk became clear
This image released by the Hardin County Fire Department in Savannah, Tennessee shows a devastating landslide that swept a home into the river on Saturday. The vacant home on the left is a home that collapsed about an hour later after this photo was taken around 5.30pm. The home on the right has been evacuated and is in extreme danger of collapse
The cascade was caused by the dangerously high level of water in the river after rain had bucketed down on Tennessee for days.
Nighttime footage of the landslide shows anxious observers shining torches on the large house, waiting for the inevitable moment it is washed down towards the river.
Slowly, it begins to creak and the sound of snapping grows louder before the side of the house closest to the river dips downwards after the ground gave way,
This rips the other side of the property from its base and sends sparks shooting into the air.
The entire building then plummets down the house with a crash, before a silence which is only broken by a woman yelling ‘oh my God!’
Sparks crackled and lit up the night sky as one of the homes tore from its wiring and toppled over the edge of the precipice
Dramatic aerial video footage shows severe flooding in the Tennessee River in Hardin County, Tennessee on Saturday
Video footage shows how flooding in Hardin County, Tennessee over the weekend
Drone photos reveal the landslide laid waste to the homes on the spread of riverfront known as Chalk Bluff.
The fire department shared the video on Facebook Saturday and posted: ‘Today at 5.15 pm firefighters were called to 4870 Glendale road on a reported land slide along the Tennessee river in the area known as chalk bluff.
‘Two houses were in danger of collapse , only one house was occupied and the homeowners were safely evacuated.’
‘About an hour later the vacant house collapsed down the steep bank. The highway department has closed that area of Glendale road. This is a short video of the collapse.’
The collapse took place as the river was reported at flood stage. The heavy rain had triggered multiple landslides over the past week in North Carolina, West Virginia and Tennessee.
This week the South, already reeling from abnormally wet weather and flooding, will be inundated with even more rain as a series of storms will sweep through Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia, through Thursday, hammering the Pearl River basin the hardest
There are currently flood warnings for Decatur and Hardin Counties in Tennessee for the Tennessee River. On Monday as of 1am the river’s stage was at 388.3ft. The Flood stage is 370.0ft.
While the river is steadily falling, it will remain at flood stage through the week.
In Tennessee, February’s rains have been ‘400% of normal, and we have more coming in this week,’ Tennessee Valley Authority spokesman Jim Hopson said. ‘It’s kind of a never-ending battle.’
‘Mother Nature is really the one in charge – we simply try to manage what Mother Nature gives us, to minimize the impacts along the 652-mile Tennessee River and its thousands of miles of tributaries and stream,’ he added.
In some areas floods have reached the rooftops of homes, causing entire neighborhoods to disappear in muddy water below the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Pickwick Reservoir.
‘We have engineers on duty 24-7 trying to figure out what’s the most effective way to move this water downstream with the least impact. They feel it. I feel it,’ Hopson added.
Days of relentless rain have caused devastating flooding in the South and led rivers and dams in both Mississippi and Tennessee to swell, as evacuations are ordered for thousands of people. The flooded Pearl River pictured above in Mississippi