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At least 21 dead, 50 missing in US floods

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Floods in Tennessee in the US have killed at least ten people, with dozens still missing.
Camera IconFloods in Tennessee in the US have killed at least ten people, with dozens still missing. Credit: AP

At least 21 people have died and 50 others are reported missing in after heavy flooding hit parts of Tennessee, US authorities say.

A dispatcher at the Humphreys County Sheriff's Office confirmed the number of those killed and missing and said authorities were working to conduct house-to-house searches of the area.

Record rainfall of up to 43 cm in some areas sparked massive flooding on Saturday afternoon and evening. Especially hard hit was the town of Waverly, about 88 km west of Nashville. Hundreds of homes were left uninhabitable.

Waverly Mayor Wallace Frazier told the Tennessean newspaper that those killed in flooding ranged in age from babies to the elderly. The Washington Post, citing family members, reported that 7-month-old twins died after they were swept away from their parents' arms.

The flooding uprooted massive trees, tore through homes and tossed cars and pickup trucks into ditches and atop sheds and other structures.

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Cindy Dunn, 48, told the Tennessean that she and her husband had been stranded in their attic for several hours after floodwaters rose to 1.8 m high in their home. The pair were saved by a rescue crew that raised the bucket of a bulldozer up to a window they could get through.

"Hell. That's what we had to go through," Dunn told the newspaper.

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