WASHINGTON, Aug 23, 2021 (BSS/AFP) - Devastating floods in the southern US
state of Tennessee have left at least 21 people dead and dozens missing,
local officials said Sunday in what they warned was a preliminary toll.

  Tennessee was hit Saturday by what meteorologists called historic storms
and flooding, dumping 15 inches (38 centimeters) or more of rain.

  Rural roads, state highways and bridges were washed out and widespread
power outages affected thousands of people.

  Twenty people died in the town of Waverly, in Humphreys County, Police
Chief Grant Gillespie said in a news conference covered by NewsChannel 5
Nashville.

  Humphreys County is about a 90-minute drive west of Nashville, the country
music center.

  Gillespie told reporters that the other death was in a rural area elsewhere
in the county.

  Initially some 40 people were reported missing, but by late afternoon that
number had been cut in half. "We're hopeful that we're getting to the end of
that list," Gillespie said.

  Local officials in Waverly likened the unusually intense storm to a
hurricane or a tornado, and said water rose so quickly that some people were
unable to escape.

  Search and rescue operations were continuing Sunday, with workers going
from home to home to search for victims or those needing assistance.

  The Waverly Department of Public Safety posted on its Facebook page a list
of names of missing people, and asked for the public's help to find them.

  "We have several reported by first names only along with several missing
children," the post said, urging people to inform authorities when someone on
the list was found and is safe.

  - Missing children -

  In Washington, President Joe Biden began an afternoon press conference by
expressing his "deepest condolences for the sudden and tragic loss of life"
in Tennessee.

  "I've asked the FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) administrator to
speak to Governor (Bill) Lee of Tennessee right away" and offer any
assistance needed, Biden said.

  Humphreys County Sheriff Chris Davis told a CNN affiliate that the dead
included two toddlers. Davis himself lost a friend to the floods.

  "They just went and got one of my best friends and recovered him. He
drowned in this," the sheriff said. "It's tough, but we're going to move
forward."

  Half a dozen children were among the missing, Davis said.

  Authorities imposed a nighttime curfew as efforts to account for the
missing continued.

  Photos posted on social media showed a row of homes nearly submerged in
brown floodwater, cars flipped over or piled on top of one another, and roads
covered in mud and debris. One picture showed a lone person sitting on a
rooftop, awaiting rescue.

  "The news media has been very focused on what's happening in other areas -
Haiti, Afghanistan, hurricanes coming into the northeast - but I think that
we need to understand that the devastation here in Tennessee has been every
bit as significant," said US Senator Bill Hagerty after visiting a flood-
devastated school.

  The Piney River in nearby Hickman County crested nearly 12 feet (3.6
meters) above its historic record high, a local National Weather Service
office said.