The difference a day makes.....

Yesterday brought our 9th straight day of rain. Prior to yesterday, we had received 7" of rain in the month of February. Last I heard yesterday evening, we received between 5" - 7" MORE in 24 hours. That would mean a total of 12" - 14" for the month of February. Our normal average is 3.9" for February....and we still have a week to go with more rain returning on Wednesday. 

This was some of the pictures shared on Facebook from yesterday's rain which caused over 100 roads to be closed due to flooding. Local businesses were closing early to allow their employees to return home and because the water was getting close to their doors. This is the river behind my work, but it has a big parking lot between us and the water. This was at 8:48 a.m. yesterday morning. It got even higher than that before the day was over. 

Many of you may have heard of or even visited the Apple Barn and Applewood Restaurant when you visit the Smoky Mountains. Here is the creek in front of it. You can see the restaurant sign to the right of the picture. The two lane road is in front of that sign. You can see  how it is completely under water. The road was gone. 

And the famous Old Mill and Old Mill Restaurant was another one who had to shut their doors and go home. 

Just some random pictures of creeks and little rivers rising out of their banks. 

More flooding near homes.

This is at the end of the road my son lives on. It definitely came out and up over the road. He can get out on the other end, but the river on the other end is even closer to the road. I don't know if it flooded or not.

More swift water running down stream.

It was everywhere. And it came up fast. We had just had so much rain and the ground was so wet that there was no place else for it to go.

This is the other end of my road. If you turn left, it takes you to the interstate, but it looks like nobody was going anywhere on that road yesterday. And that is just a little creek that came up and over the road.

So many roads were covered. Many were closed, but some were still passable for part of the day.

The rain left around 4 or 5 p.m. But came back a little after 7:00 with thunder and high winds. It is still a little windy this morning, well windy enough that you hear it whistle. The rain has all moved out but the wind could get gusts from 20 - 40 mph. Maybe that will dry things up. But I did wake up to see the sun slowly coming up along the ridge. But what made me happier was the blue sky and white fluffy clouds.

It looks like it is going to be a beautiful day. It is supposed to get up to 59 or 60 degrees today. Bring it on!