Event narrative (NOAA)
A 56 year old tow truck driver was one of two drivers who arrived to help a man who had driven into flood waters off of Holmes Road near the intersection of Reynolds Road after falling asleep at the wheel. The tow truck driver tied an air hose around his waist for safety and climbed onto the car to attach the cable from the tow truck. The car began to float. The water forced the car through the culvert into the raging Nonconnah Creek tributary, with the force of the current snapping the hose that tethered the man to the tow truck. The car sank 75 feet.
Other notable flood events in Tennessee
Source: NOAA/NCEI Storm Events Database. Deaths and injuries are those NOAA classifies as direct. Damage is the reporting office's estimate at the time and is not inflation-adjusted. This is a catalogue record, not a forecast.