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Agence France-Presse

Devastating floods in the southern US state of Tennessee have left at least 21 people dead and many missing, local officials said on Sunday in what they warned was a preliminary toll.
Tennessee was hit Saturday by what meteorologists called historic storms and flooding, dumping 38cm (15 inches) or more of rain.
Rural roads, state highways and bridges were washed out and widespread power outages affected thousands of people.
Twenty people died in the town of Waverly, in Humphreys County, Police Chief Grant Gillespie said in a news conference covered by NewsChannel 5 Nashville.
Humphreys County is about a 90-minute drive west of Nashville, the country music centre.
Gillespie said that the other death was in a rural area elsewhere in the county.
Initially some 40 people were reported missing, but by late afternoon that number had been cut in half. “We’re hopeful that we’re getting to the end of that list,” Gillespie said.
Local officials in Waverly likened the unusually intense storm to a hurricane or a tornado, and said water rose so quickly that some people were unable to escape.

Search and rescue operations were continuing Sunday, with workers going from home to home to search for victims or those needing assistance.
The Waverly Department of Public Safety posted on its Facebook page a list of names of missing people, and asked for the public’s help to find them.
“We have several reported by first names only along with several missing children,” the post said, urging people to inform authorities when someone on the list was found and is safe.
Hurricanes last longer and do more damage, study says
In Washington, President Joe Biden expressed his “deepest condolences for the sudden and tragic loss of life” in Tennessee.
“I’ve asked the FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) administrator to speak to Governor (Bill) Lee of Tennessee right away” and offer any assistance needed, Biden said.
The Washington Post, citing family members, reported that 7-month-old twins died after they were swept away from their parents’ arms.

Humphreys County Sheriff Chris Davis told a CNN affiliate that he lost a friend to the floods.
“They just went and got one of my best friends and recovered him. He drowned in this,” the sheriff said. “It’s tough, but we’re going to move forward.”
Half a dozen children were among the missing, Davis said.
Authorities imposed a nighttime curfew as efforts to account for the missing continued.
Photos posted on social media showed a row of homes nearly submerged in brown floodwater, cars flipped over or piled on top of one another, and roads covered in mud and debris. One picture showed a lone person sitting on a rooftop, awaiting rescue.
‘We lost Greenville’: wildfire wipes out California Gold Rush town
“The news media has been very focused on what’s happening in other areas – Haiti, Afghanistan, hurricanes coming into the northeast – but I think that we need to understand that the devastation here in Tennessee has been every bit as significant,” said US Senator Bill Hagerty after visiting a flood-devastated school.
The Piney River in nearby Hickman County crested nearly 3.6 metres (12 feet) above its historic record high, a local National Weather Service office said.
Meanwhile. Tropical Storm Henri, downgraded at sea from a hurricane, was soaking the US northeast with rain after it came ashore in Rhode Island. The storm was leaving a trail of power outages and flooded roadways from New Jersey to Massachusetts.
Henri is the latest in a grim parade of extreme weather events worldwide as climate change takes hold. Massive wildfires have blackened huge swathes of California, Greece, Algeria and Siberia, sending smoke over the North Pole for the first time on record. July was the hottest month ever recorded on Earth.
Additional reporting by Bloomberg and Reuters


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United States

At least 21 killed in Tennessee floods, many missing

Flood damage and debris in Waverly, Tennessee. Photo: AP

Flood damage is photographed from a Tennessee National Guard UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter flying Gov. Bill Lee to Waverly, Tenn., on Sunday, Aug. 22, 2021. (Alan Poizner/The Tennessean via AP, Pool)

A car is among debris that washed up against a bridge over a stream Sunday, Aug. 22, 2021, in Waverly, Tenn. Heavy rains caused flooding Saturday in Middle Tennessee and have resulted in multiple deaths as homes and rural roads were washed away. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

Hurricane Grace lashes eastern Mexico, killing at least eight including baby

A resident surveys a damaged home in Tecolitla, Veracruz state. Photo: Bloomberg

(210821) -- POZA RICA (MEXICO), Aug. 21, 2021 (Xinhua) -- Workers remove branches torn from trees due to the rain and wind caused by the landfall of Hurricane Grace, in Poza Rica, in the state of Veracruz, Mexico, on Aug. 21, 2021. At least eight people were dead and three missing after Hurricane Grace hit eastern Mexico, Cuitlahuac Garcia, governor of the state of Veracruz, reported on Saturday. (Photo by Jesus Alvarado/Xinhua)

A resident walks past debris on a street after Hurricane Grace made landfall in Tecolitla, Veracruz state, Mexico, on Saturday, Aug. 21, 2021. Grace has weakened to a Category 1 hurricane after making landfall in Mexico earlier Saturday and is making its way across the center of the country. Photographer: Hector Adolfo Quintanar Perez/Bloomberg

A resident moves a felled tree after Hurricane Grace made landfall in Tecolitla, Veracruz state, Mexico, on Saturday, Aug. 21, 2021. Grace has weakened to a Category 1 hurricane after making landfall in Mexico earlier Saturday and is making its way across the center of the country. Photographer: Hector Adolfo Quintanar Perez/Bloomberg

Photographs of the Moreno family are seen on a makeshift altar, after a landslide buried their home during the passage of Hurricane Grace, in Xalapa, Veracruz State, Mexico, Saturday, Aug. 21, 2021. Grace hit Mexico's Gulf shore as a major Category 3 storm before weakening on Saturday, drenching coastal and inland areas in its second landfall in the country in two days. (AP Photo/Felix Marquez)

A tree, uprooted when Hurricane Grace slammed into the coast with torrential rains, fell on a house, in Tecolutla, Mexico August 21, 2021. REUTERS/Oscar Martinez

Haiti’s agony: earthquake, storm and floods

A boy grimaces in pain at the Immaculee Conception hospital in Les Cayes, Haiti, three days after an earthquake struck. Photo: AP

Earthquake-displaced children huddle under a piece of plastic the morning after Tropical Storm Grace swept over Les Cayes, Haiti, Tuesday, Aug. 17, 2021, three days after a 7.2-magnitude earthquake. (AP Photo/Joseph Odelyn)

A man carries the body of a boy, who was found in a collapsed building, into the cemetery in Les Cayes, Haiti, Tuesday, Aug. 17, 2021, three days after a 7.2 magnitude earthquake hit. According to an engineer working for Les Cayes Mayor, the boy's body was found Monday amid the rubble of a collapsed hostal. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

A building lays in ruins three days after a 7.2-magnitude earthquake and the morning after Tropical Storm Grace swept over Les Cayes, Haiti, Tuesday, Aug. 17, 2021. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

US Coast Guard carry medical supplies to the Ofatma Hospital in Les Cayes, Haiti, August 17, 2021. - The death toll from a 7.2 magnitude earthquake that struck Haiti has risen to 1,941, the Caribbean nation's civil protection agency said Tuesday, as a tropical storm brought torrential downpours on survivors already coping with catastrophe. More than 9,900 people were wounded when the quake struck the southwestern part of the Caribbean nation on Saturday, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) to the west of the capital Port-au-Prince, according to the updated toll. (Photo by Reginald LOUISSAINT JR / AFP)

At least 57 dead after major flooding in northern Turkey; 2,500 people evacuated

A man looks at a destroyed building in Bozkurt, Kastamonu province, Turkey on Saturday after severe floods and mudslides killed at least 55. Photo: AP

A handout picture taken and released on August 13 , 2021 by the Turkish Presidential Press service shows Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (R) and Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu (2nd R) during a visit to the disaster zone and flood hit site in the Turkish Black Sea region, in Bozkurt,in Kastamonu ,province n north Turkey. - Heavy storms descended on Turkey's northern stretches just as rescuers reported bringing hundreds of wildfires that have killed eight people since late July under near total control in the south. (Photo by Murat CETINMUHURDAR / TURKISH PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SERVICE / AFP)

An aerial view shows the Ezine river carrying away debris after deadly flash floods broke it's banks in Bozkurt in the district of Kastamonu, in the Black Sea region of Turkey on August 14, 2021. - In Bozkurt, one eight-storey building constructed on the banks of the Ezine river collapsed. Footage shot by survivors showed furious river waters flooding the streets in just a few minutes, carrying off cars and traffic signs. (Photo by STR / AFP)

An aerial photo shows overturned cars among destruction in a mud-covered street in Bozkurt town of Kastamonu province, Turkey, Saturday, Aug. 14, 2021. The death toll from severe floods and mudslides in coastal Turkey has climbed to at least 40, the country's emergency and disaster agency said Saturday. Torrential rains that pounded the Black Sea provinces of Bartin, Kastamonu and Sinop on Wednesday caused flooding that demolished homes, severed at least five bridges, swept away cars and rendered numerous roads unpassable.(Ismail Coskun/IHA via AP)

Floods claim 21 more lives in central China

Heavy rain in Suizhou, Hubei province, has left the city flooded. Photo: AFP

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World

United States & Canada


Record-breaking rain sends floodwaters surging in Tennessee
Rescue crews searched desperately amid shattered homes for missing



Rescue crews search desperately amid shattered homes and tangled debris for missing after record-breaking rain sent floodwaters surging


Extreme weather

Climate change

Environment

At least 21 killed in Tennessee floods, many missing

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;} Record-breaking rain sends floodwaters surging in Tennessee Rescue crews searched desperately amid shattered homes for missing

Record-breaking rain sends floodwaters surging in Tennessee

Rescue crews searched desperately amid shattered homes for missing