The flooding event during the overnight and early morning of Tuesday, Nov. 7, was perhaps the most significant flooding event in western DeKalb County in over 75 years. The setup that caused such heavy rainfall is a process known as “training,” which occurs when thunderstorm bands orient themselves east to west and move directly over the same area for several hours.
is happened on May 1, 2010 in the Nashville area, kicking off that historic flooding event.
This rain event came through overnight, dumping up to six or seven inches of rain along a swath of land from Dickson to White County, with flooding issues being noted along the Harpeth River, in Williamson, Davidson, and Rutherford counties, and throughout DeKalb and parts of Cannon and Wilson counties.
In western DeKalb County, the major waterway is the Smith Fork Creek, a tributary of the Caney Fork River. Rising around Statesville, the Smith Fork drains parts of southeastern Wilson and northern Cannon in addition to DeKalb. Notable tributaries of the Smith Fork include Marshall, Kennedy, Leach, Carter, Saunders Fork, Hurricane, Clever, Rocky Branch, Knight, Sunset, Purtle, Johnson, Wilmouth, Sycamore, Connell, Three Forks Branch, Adamson Branch and Clear Fork Creek.
Water from all of these waterways drains into the communities of Statesville, Auburntown, Liberty Hill, Cottage Home, Gassaway, and parts of northern Short Mountain. The Clear Fork joins the Smith Fork in Liberty, one spot where significant flooding occurred. Floodwaters surrounded DeKalb West School and Salem Baptist Church, in addition to numerous homes. It also reached the top of the Main Street Bridge on the east side of town.
Continuing into Dowelltown, the Smith Fork picks up Dry Creek and its tributaries Bluhmtown Creek, Egypt Hollow Branch, Frazier Hollow Branch and Wilder Hollow Branch, among other smaller ones. More unbelievable flooding occurred here, with the Smith Fork backing up through a small branch on the west side of town, flooding West Main Street early in the morning and prompting water rescues conducted by local EMA and rescue squad members.
The east side of town was inundated by Dry Creek, making East Main Street and Smith Fork Road impassable. Downstream, water topped the bridge along Dismal Road where Dismal Branch enters the creek, leaving debris scattered along the bridge.
Water backed up into a low spot along Hannah Branch, completely covering a spot in that area to a point I didn’t think was possible. After picking up water from Helton Creek and its tributaries of Coon Branch and Tramel Branch, the creek entered Temperance Hall, where there is a United States Geological Service river gauge in operation at the Highway 264 Bridge where Reynolds Branch joins.
An eyewitness account (my grandpa, who owns the land and lives there) stated that he had only seen water that high two other times, in 1999 and 2010. Data from the gauge shows that during this event, the Smith Fork crested at 27.5 feet at 12:30 p.m., having started at 2.32 feet at midnight the night before. Water discharge hit a high of 33,600 cubic feet per second, from 75 cubic feet/sec the night before. This eclipsed the mark set on May 3, 2010 of 26.89 feet and 31,600 cubic feet/sec.
Further downstream, Highway 264 was completely covered in the area “between the bridges” in Temperance Hall, with water topping the Walker Creek Bridge at its confluence with the Smith Fork. Roads from Auburntown to Lancaster were made impassable by the creek.
All this flooding, combined with flooding in numerous other creek and river systems, led to the closure of schools in DeKalb, Rutherford and Cheatham counties, as well as a delay in Dickson County for the day.
These flooding events are not unusual or unprecedented; they happen several times a year around the country and world, but this is definitely an event to remember in DeKalb County.
