East Tennessee storms cause flooding, power outages

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) - Severe thunderstorms moved through East Tennessee Tuesday evening and Thursday morning, bringing damage, flooding and heavy winds to counties across the region. Flood advisories were issued for Anderson, Campbell, Morgan and Knox County Thursday morning.

Flooding

Several Knoxville roads were closed by police officials due to flooding Thursday morning. As of 9 a.m., E. Fifth Avenue, Gleason Drive, Ray Mears Boulevard and sections of Cedar Bluff and Hinton Drive were all closed.

Power Outages

Thursday’s second round of storms brought some power outages, but not as many as Tuesday’s storms. As of 8:30 a.m. Thursday, only 738 people in the Knoxville area were without power, according to KUB.

At peak, more than 15,000 outages were reported.

“Crews are working to restore power quickly and safely,” KUB officials said. During an outage, KUB uses a specific sequence to determine the order of restoration.

View the outage map here.

Damage and Hail

Tuesday’s storms brought hail and damage into the East Tennessee area. Knox County law enforcement and rescue teams responded to different calls across the county due to trees down on roads and homes, according to reports.

One of the calls was to Berkshire Drive, where officials responded to close the road after a tree had fallen across it. Debris was also seen in photos sent to WVLT News.

Trees and power lines were found downed in other places across East Tennessee, including on Shropshire Boulevard and Widdecomb Road in Powell.

In the same area, hail and high winds were caught on video.

Lightning and Rainbows

There were thousands of lightning strikes across East Tennessee as the weather arrived. As the storm raged through the region, many folks caught photos and videos of beautiful rainbows, some as lightning struck, capturing rare moments.

Here are photos that were sent to the WVLT Newsroom of the lightning and rainbows:

Hail and tumultuous storms are forecasted to develop as the week continues. Stay up to date with WVLT News here.

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