Flooding on Executive Park Dr.
While East Tennessee remains under a tornado watch, flood waters are the biggest concern for much of the area, especially in Knox County.
Knox County's Emergency Operations Center has been activated to help with the response to the flooding. There are a number of roads shut down in Knoxville, including parts of Broadway and Cedar Bluff. All ramps from I-640 to Broadway are closed. No cars are being allowed to exit onto Broadway.
Students are stranded at Holston Middle School by high waters. The buses cannot get through, and parents cannot get to them. For now, officials are keeping the students safe inside. They were trying to determine if it will be safe to walk the kids out to their parents.
There is widespread flooding on the UT Campus. West Volunteer Boulevard is closed off after the intersection of Joe Johnson Drive and Andy Holt Avenue to Cumberland Avenue due to flooding. Traffic leaving the west end of campus via Volunteer Boulevard is being diverted down Joe Johnson Drive to Neyland Drive. Traffic on Lake Avenue is being diverted north on 22nd Street to Terrace Avenue due to flooding. There is standing water on many campus roads, and more rain is expected to fall in the campus area throughout the afternoon possibly causing more closures.
KUB was reporting only 507 outages around 4:30 pm Monday. However, with the amount of rain that has fallen so far, the
saturated ground could impact conditions overnight, especially if winds pick up.
"We've been very fortunate so far today that outages have been relatively low," said Mike Bolin, KUB Vice President. "However, heavy rain does complicate repair work - if
roadways are flooded, our crews may have difficulty accessing damaged lines."
Crews will work throughout the storm to restore service, but that could be a challenge if wind overnight downs more trees. KUB is taking the necessary precautions to ensure
that appropriate staffing levels are on duty and stand-by to respond immediately to additional outages that may occur.
Customers are reminded to stay away from any downed power lines, and from any trees that may be contacting power lines. Customers are also reminded to call KUB at
524-2911 or 1-800-250-8068 to report outages.
Knoxville Police Department spokesperson Darrell Debusk says they have several reports of people being stranded in their flooded vehicles. They are working with other emergency crews to get to everyone and get them out safely.
Knox County buses are running, but school officials warn that buses may not be able to get through to all neighborhoods safely.
Cedar Bluff Road is closed from Sherill Blvd. to the interstate.
Flood reports from 10News Viewers
They urge people not to drive into high water at any time, because you do not have any idea how deep it could be or how quickly it could be moving.
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Tornado warning issued for Greene, Cocke, Jefferson, Hawkins, Hamblen Counties until 2 pm
Tornado warning now in effect for Knox, Anderson, Jefferson, Blount, Extreme Western Cocke Counties until 1:30PM.
There are reports of flash flooding across the area, along with high winds.
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SEVERE WEATHER OUTBREAK POSSIBLE! We are tracking a very strong cold front which will bring us thunderstorms through the late morning and early afternoon hours, 10am-4pm.
We are under a TORNADO WATCH until 2pm for all of East Tennessee and Kentucky.
We are also under a MODERATE RISK for severe weather, meaning, damaging winds, large hail, isolated tornadoes and locally heavy rainfall expected!
Please head all watches and warnings through the day and stay with us on 10News, wbir.com, facebook and twitter for the very latest updates! Highs will be in the low 70s with very windy conditions.
Middle Tennessee is also under a tornado watch as area faces moderate risk of severe weather today.
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A weather system carrying heavy rains, hail, high winds and possible tornadoes is expected to move across Tennessee.
The National Weather Service put 19 Tennessee counties, including Davidson County and the surrounding area, under a tornado watch late Sunday afternoon until 10 p.m.
National Weather Service meteorologist Corey Chaskelson in Memphis said the greatest threat with the storm comes from winds, hail and the potential of tornadoes.
The storms are expected to move into western Tennessee Sunday night, then progress east through Nashville by midday Monday. Forecasters expect temperatures to fall from the upper 60s to perhaps into the 50s for Monday afternoon.
A line of thunderstorms with strong winds will likely accompany a cold front moving through with the storm.
The weather service also issued a wind advisory, with 25-35 mph winds expected overnight and into Monday, with gusts of up to 40 mph in higher elevations.
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