Rain finally stops, high water gushes: Torrential rainfall sets new modern-day record

By DUANE SHERRILL / Staff Reporter for the Southern Standard

The dam at Rock Island State Park gushes with the raging waters of the Caney Fork River Wednesday. All 18 of the dam’s gates were reported open. (Pat Zechman photo)

While calling it the storm of the century may be going a bit far, the torrential rains which have pounded Warren County have set a new modern-day record for rainfall even as more precipitation is in the immediate forecast.

According to McMinnville Water Plant director Ricky Morton, a total of 10.14 inches of rain has been recorded since the first storms hit early Monday morning. Forecasts also call for more rain through the weekend, meaning the county’s week-long total may surpass a foot.

The total thus far this week surpasses the 9.36 inches recorded in a three-day period in December 1990, 6 inches of which fell in one 24-hour period that year. The 1990 flood led to extensive property damage. More than $150,000 in damage was caused to Warren County roads alone. Estimates are still being compiled as to the property and road damage caused by the present storms.

The total rainfall from the present storm also rivals, and in week-long precipitation totals surpasses, the massive flood of March 1973, where over 6 inches fell in one 24-hour period. The flood of 1973 is still known as the most costly flood to hit Warren County in the area of property loss, with over a half million dollars of damage to roads alone, not including hundreds of thousands of dollars in private property damage.

While considerable damage has been seen in the present flood, the major difference between this flood and that of 1973 was the fact waterways were already swollen to capacity when the single-day, 6-inch rains came, causing major river flooding into never before flooded areas.

As for loss of life, the flood of 1902 holds the local record as several people were killed when flood waters washed away homes, mills and bridges. The exact rainfall totals on the 1902 flood are not known. The flood came as the result of two weeks of rain, culminated by a massive storm.