Record flooding hits Union City area
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UNION CITY, Tenn. — The rain just kept coming down last night in one West Tennessee county. The Obion County emergency manager says it caused flooding like he’s never seen before. While some parts of the county received no rain at all, record flood levels hit the upper part of Obion County, leaving some local businesses shut down. Kenny Troutt woke up to find his shop, Fathead Tire, underwater. “It covered up everything, just pretty much soaked everything,” Troutt said. The water line was up to four feet deep on the outside of the building, and there is at least $25,000 worth of damage on the inside. “Probably my balancer and tire machines, they were completely submerged — all electrical — so that’s what I’m concerned about, and a lot of my paperwork inside the office,” Troutt said. Obion County EMA director Danny Jowers said the flooding only hit the upper part of the county. He said the flood levels swelled to a record high. “Some of this water last night, no joke, in places it was 6 feet deep,” Jowers said. Jowers says no one was hurt during the storm last night but that the timing of the storm is a nuisance just before the start of the holiday weekend. “It’s going to take a while. We got some businesses along Reelfoot here probably got at least a foot, two foot of water, so it’s going to take a while to get this cleaned up,” Jowers said. For Troutt, the cleanup will shut him down for a while. “It takes a toll on everything,” Troutt said. “Small business, you lose business for a week’s worth of work, you know, it’s kind of tough.” Troutt hopes to be back in business by the end of next week. The county is still assessing how much damage was done in the area. There is no word yet on how much it will cost to fix everything.
