At least 22 people have been reported dead while many are missing as central Tennessee faces record-breaking rain and flash flooding. The National Weather Service in Nashville is called the flooding “catastrophic” in Dickson, Houston, Humphreys and Hickman Counties.

Up to 17 inches (43 centimeters) of rain fell in the Humphreys in less than 24 hours Saturday, appearing to shatter the Tennessee record for one-day rainfall by more than 3 inches (8 centimeters), the National Weather Service said.

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A small town about 60 miles west of Nashville, Waverly, had been ‘pretty much underwater’ the NWS meteorologist Krissy Hurley said, as per Washington Post reports. 

“This is the most devastating disaster that we’ve every experienced in this area,” Waverly Mayor Buddy Frazier told local media, adding that the floods occurred with the quickness of a tornado.

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Pictures on social media showed people awaiting rescue on rooftops. Some were trapped in vehicles. The death toll and missing count were confirmed by Humphreys County Sheriff’s Office. 

“We are asking that residents please stay out of neighborhoods and roadways while the rescue effort is underway,” Waverly Chief of Public Safety Grant Gillespie said in a statement.

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The hardest-hit areas saw double the rain that area of Middle Tennessee had in the previous worst-case scenario for flooding, meteorologists said. Lines of storms moved over the area for hours, wringing out a record amount of moisture — a scenario scientists have warned may be more common because of global warming.

The downpours rapidly turned the creeks that run behind backyards and through downtown Waverly into raging rapids. Business owner Kansas Klein stood on a bridge Saturday in the town of 4,500 people and saw two girls who were holding on to a puppy and clinging to a wooden board sweep past, the current too fast for anyone to grab them

As per TEMA, 3,500 customers in Humphreys County as of Saturday night lacked power and several hundred lacked electricity.