Officials urge caution to West TN drivers amid heavy rain, flooding

JACKSON, Tenn. — Due to the heavy rain earlier this morning, May 24, some roads in West Tennessee became impassable.

A few county officials and residents reached out to us and shared pictures of roads that became dangerous for drivers.

“I know they hear it all the time but ‘turn around don’t drown’, I can’t emphasize that enough cause when you drive into that standing water, you can’t tell how deep it is. And it takes just a few inches of water to flood a vehicle,” said Madison County Fire Chief Eric Turner.

Turner, shares this advice to all drivers.

Earlier today his team had to save drivers and passengers from their cars due to the water covering the roadway.

“Mainly the ones we had the most issues, U.S. 70 West towards Brownsville past McKenzie Store. We’ve had 3 to 4 different spots that’s been flooded with vehicles driving through the water,” said Turner.

Aside from those areas, some roads in Friendship and Crockett County were blocked off with warnings for drivers to turn around due to flooded roads. However, most of these were back roads.

Turner has even more advice for drivers who may be out late this evening.

“Just be real cautious especially once it gets dark, because it’s hard to tell the difference between a wet street and a flooded street. Definitely the areas out in the county where it’s less traffic are a lot more susceptible to problems due to less traffic and people not knowing exactly what they’re driving into,” said Turner.

Emergency officials also caution you to never drive around the barricade of a flooded road.

Just two feet of flowing water can sweep a car, SUV, van or truck off of the road.

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