Family of three, including a child, are crushed to death by falling tree as catastrophic flooding wrecks Tennessee

A falling tree killed a family-of-three after disastrous flooding wrecked Tennessee overnight. 

The tree crushed a car with a mother, father and child inside in East Ridge – about 15 minutes outside of Chattanooga – early Wednesday morning. 

Saturated ground caused the tree to tumble over just after midnight, according to Hamilton County Office of Emergency Management spokesperson Amy Maxwell. 

Meanwhile, emergency personnel are looking for a man who walked though a flooded road in Chattanooga. He hasn’t been seen since last night, Maxwell said. 

Nearly seven inches of rain fell Tuesday evening, leading to catastrophic flooding in the area. 

Hamilton County Mayor Weston Wamp declared a state of emergency just before 8am Wednesday and will remain in effect until 9.30pm.

Schools in the county are also closed along with several roadways, including I-24, due to the heavy rainfall. 

Others had to be rescued from homes and vehicles that got stuck in the murky floodwater.

Hamilton County Sheriff Austin Garrett said the flooding is the worst he’s ever seen. 

‘I’ve seen flooding throughout my career all over the county. It’s typically concentrated in one area,’ Garrett told Chattanooga Times Free Press. 

‘This is extremely widespread. It made it difficult for us to even get here ourselves to try to help other people. 

‘So no, I’ve never seen it to this extent, this widespread in so many areas and impacting travel the way it is.’ 

The Brainerd Recreation Center has been opened an evacuation zone, the Chattanooga Fire Department announced. 

Paul Broughton, a local who witnessed the biblical flooding, described how fast the water took over. 

‘I mean, it was just a matter of coming out of that gully right there, and then I looked and the whole road was covered. Lord have mercy,’ he told the outlet. 

‘Little rain here and a little rain there, and all of a sudden it just started coming down, and it just it was relentless.’

Swift Water Rescue teams were seen launching rafts into the water to save those trapped.  

Garrett urged locals to not try to travel anywhere during the flood. 

‘The biggest thing we want to stress for everyone is stay home. And if you’re in a safe place, stay there,’ he said. 

‘Don’t try to get home right now because we have so many roadways that are closed. They’re just, you can’t get through the intersections.’

City officials plan to inspect the damage throughout the day. 

This is a breaking news story. Updates to follow.