RED BOILING SPRINGS, Tenn. - After several hours of heavy rain, Salt Lick Creek overran its banks on Wednesday morning and flooded the town of Red Boiling Springs in eastern Macon County.
"We ended up having to just shut down the entire downtown for safety reasons, there were so many places that were dangerous to attempt to cross," said Jacob Jordan, an officer with the Red Boiling Springs Police Department. "We still had about three or four cars that stalled out and flooded out."
The police department had already called in extra help from fire and rescue crews when the downtown area was covered in three to five feet of water.
Main Street was back open at midday, while local utility crews dredged debris from the creek to prevent additional flooding.
"Of course the entire tennis courts, you couldn't see it," said Officer Jordan as he surveyed a local park near Church Street. "I have no idea where the road was, it was up in these yards here. This was all one big body of water."
According to the police department, there were no injuries and no homes had to be evacuated, but after intense flooding in early May, the low-lying community doesn't take chances.
"Me working the May 2 flood kind of gives me a better idea when to call all the help in," Officer Jordan told News 2.
Macon County received around eight inches of rain in a 12-hour period overnight Tuesday through Wednesday morning.
