Dunlap dodges damage in heavy downpour

DUNLAP, Tenn. — Heavy rains Thursday had Sequatchie County officials jumping but water levels receded quickly and only the county’s agriculture extension and soil conservation offices were damaged, officials said Friday.

Emergency Management Agency Director Rusty Cheatham said water came into the old health department building housing the two agencies.

Water levels dropped quickly after an afternoon rainstorm that seemed to target Dunlap dead center, Mr. Cheatham said. “It seems like it was from John Burch Road up to Brush Creek,” he said.

The EMA director’s grandmother, who lives just a few miles south in the Daus community, had almost no rain. And a brush fire on Signal Mountain puzzled firefighters, who couldn’t believe a fire could start in such a deluge, he said.

“Yesterday was an interesting moment,” he said. “It caught all of us off guard.”

County Executive Michael Hudson said flooding threatened the Sequatchie County Justice Center but didn’t get inside.

Mr. Hudson said some residents reported 3 inches of rain in less than an hour.

Mr. Cheatham said rain runoff at the Justice Center might attract some study of the drainage ditch on Fredonia Road. He said officials might look at ways to give water more time to drain before it starts overflowing.

“When you get over 3 inches of rain as quick as we did, I guess we’re lucky we’re not all still under water,” he said.

“We had a lot of water running through yards and stuff. I’m just glad we didn’t have any running through houses.”