Flooding continues to impact communities, businesses in Hardin County

HARDIN COUNTY,  Tenn. — Record flooding has occurred for the Tennessee River in Hardin County. Emergency Management Director Melvin Martin says the river is the highest it’s been since 1973.

This image of floodwaters in Hardin County is from drone footage provided to WBBJ 7 Eyewitness News by Tim Ferguson.

“It’s amazing to see that much water, and the water, the Tennessee River, is usually a couple hundred yards wide,” Martin said. “And when you see miles of water out here across the houses and everything like that, it’s just amazing.”

About 500 homes were affected across the county, impacting people who own property along the river.

“All we can do is just try to rebuild, but it’s going to be a mess,” said Craig Massey of Somerville, who owns property along the river in Savannah. “There’s a lot of people that’s lost a lot of stuff. The water moved up a lot quicker than we thought it was.”

One of those properties affected by the massive flooding is Hagy’s Catfish Hotel Restaurant.

“I didn’t think it would be in the building because we’re in the stage 394, and they were saying it may come up to six feet in the catfish, so thank God it wasn’t that extreme,” manager Barbara McAfee said.

McAfee said Friday night the road leading into the restaurant was all dry and clear. But with all the rain we saw Saturday, the river quickly rose, covering the road and the restaurant with about seven feet deep of water outside of it, and about a foot deep of water inside the restaurant itself.

Chief Martin says they expect the river to crest at about 394 feet.

“We’re looking at the river cresting today [Monday] or tonight, and so we’re looking at the peak point, and then over the next few days the river will go down slowly,” Chief Martin said.

McAfee says she’s just thankful the damage isn’t worse.

“Hopefully we’ll have it up and running again in maybe a month,” McAfee said.

The Savannah Utility Department announced Monday afternoon that they have shut off water service to Wharf Road and Arnold Lane in Pyburn, and Russell Chapel Lane on North Clifton Road due to major leaks. These areas will be without water service until flooding recedes and damage can be assessed. For more information, visit the Seen on 7 section of our website.