By Erik Schelzig
The Associated Press
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Eleven people were killed in Tennessee and four in northern Mississippi by a line of storms that brought flooding and tornadoes to the region over the weekend. More rain and storms loomed Sunday as emergency officials in Tennessee sought help from the state’s Army National Guard, and urged people to stay off roads and interstate highways that had been turned into rivers.
Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen said Sunday it will likely be days before floodwaters recede enough to assess the damage to roads and bridges.
Tennessee officials have confirmed 11 deaths. At least three people were missing after getting swept away by flood waters, and one of them was presumed dead by the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency, which would bring the death toll to 12.
Bredesen said he expects to ask for federal disaster designation.
Earlier Sunday, TEMA asked for the state’s National Guard to help with rescue operations.
Agency spokesman Jeremy Heidt confirmed that one person died around 4 a.m. Sunday in a tornado near Pocahontas, about 70 miles east of Memphis. The other deaths in Tennessee were due to flooding, TEMA said.
Interstate 24 remained closed in Nashville, and segments of Interstate 40 between Nashville and Memphis were blocked.
In northern Mississippi, officials said a man died in Corinth after his car was submerged under flood waters.
Two people died in a Benton County mobile home that “looks like you stuck about four sticks of dynamite on it and it just disappeared,” said Coroner John Riles.
And in Lafayette County, Emergency Management coordinator David Shaw said one person was killed in Abbeville, where 15 or 20 houses were damaged by strong winds.
A spokeswoman at the National Weather Service said it was too early to say if tornadoes had caused the damage in Mississippi.
A line of strong thunderstorms Saturday dumped at least 10 inches of rain on Memphis and produced tornadoes and hail along the Mississippi River Valley in Mississippi, Arkansas, Missouri, Kentucky and northward.
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