Tennessee flooding: 'Unprecedented' floods make homes slide into river

'Mother Nature is really the one in charge - we simply try to manage what Mother Nature gives us'

Authorities managing dams in Tennessee and Mississippi must make difficult decisions as floodwaters swell along the states’ rivers; the surging water pressing against the dams has to be released at some point, and when it does, it often spells disaster for individuals living downstream from the dams.

Case in point: two large homes slid into the flood-swelled waters of the Tennessee River over the weekend.

Luckily no one was hurt in the landslides. One of the homes was unoccupied and the other was evacuated before the structure slid into the river. The first of the homes crumbled on Saturday night. The second fell into the river on Sunday.

Drone footage of the aftermath of the landslide revealed debris scattered down the face of the bank.

Tennessee Valley Authority spokesman Jim Hopson told the Associated Press that the organisation was working to mitigate the damage caused when water is released from the dams.

“It absolutely kills you, knowing that,” he said, referring to the knowledge that homes downstream from the dams are destroyed by the water. “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.”

Mr Hoposon said that this month’s rains have been “400 per cent of normal” and that more was on the way.

“It’s kind of a never ending battle,” he said.

Mississippi Governor Tate Reeves held a press conference on Sunday in which he called the floods “historic” and “unprecedented.” He said that it was unlikely the situation would “end anytime soon.”

Officials at a reservoir upriver of the state capitol said Sunday that the water levels there had stabilised and would require less water to be sent downstream.

Hopson said the region around the Pickwick Dam was flooded, and that while water output from the dam had decreased, it wasn’t down much; output declined from 2.5 million gallons per second on Sunday night to 2.36 million gallons per second on Monday.

“Mother Nature is really the one in charge - we simply try to manage what Mother Nature gives us, to minimise the impacts along the 652-mile Tennessee River and its thousands of miles of tributaries and streams,” Mr Hopson said.

Residents in the area are still being urged to keep abreast of evacuation orders and to pay attention to road closures.

In some flooded neighbourhoods, residents used small boats to paddle through the swell and check on their homes and neighbours.

Nearly 2,400 structures across the three Mississippi counties closest to the Pearl River are at risk of being flooded or being surrounded by flood waters.

John and Jina Smith, residents of a riverside community, were forced to leave their homes when officials at the Barnett Reservoir upstream determined it would be necessary to allow blocked water to flow downstream.

The couple fled, and upon returning found a foot and a half of water inside their house.

“It’s going to take a while for us to rebuild, but we are safe, and we’re all OK,” Ms Smith said.