From Snow to Floods: Clarksville endures extreme weather, breaks rainfall record

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2 days ago

Clarksville has exceeded its year-to-date rainfall in the first six months of the year, with more rain and storms expected this week.
Clarksville residents are no strangers to the extremes of Mother Nature, facing snow and ice last winter, tornadoes this spring and multiple flooding incidents this year alone.
The National Weather Service is expecting storms and rain to come through Montgomery County beginning June 5, possibly bringing yet another wet weekend to the area.
As a result, the city is reaching a new record of rainfall as another rainy week adds to the inches fallen this year.
Within the first five months of the year, Clarksville-Montgomery County has experienced all Mother Nature can offer, with more to come.
From icy and snowy grounds in February, flooding in February and May and a couple of EF-0 tornadoes in May,
In less than months, Clarksville received 37.44 inches of rain, 17.95 inches more than normal for this time of year.
Within two months of the year, some Clarksville-Montgomery County residents were evacuated from their homes as the area received around six inches of rain in just 24 hours between Feb. 15 and 16. The Cumberland River peaked just below major flood level at 51.27 ft.
According to the National Weather Service in Nashville, the total rainfall ranked No. 2 on the one-day rainfall totals for Clarksville.
Just days later, Clarksville, along with most of Middle Tennessee, was placed under a Winter Storm Watch as temperatures dropped.
Residents woke up Feb. 19 to icy roads and nearly five inches of snow blanketing the ground.
Nearly two months later, Spring made its debut with severe weather bringing a second flood wave. The April flooding arrived quickly, with nearly 10 inches of rain falling over a weekend, causing more neighborhoods to experience flooding and necessitating evacuations.
The Cumberland River, which reaches flood stages at 46 feet, peaked at 50.54 feet and the Red River, with a flood stage of 30 feet, crested at 39.30 feet.
With two flooding events in less than three months, it is no surprise that the area has exceeded its year-to-date amount, as city and county residents are left to deal with the damage left behind.
"I'm a sitting duck," said 37-year-old Candace Payne as she watched her home slowly flood for the second time in three months.
Payne bought her four-bedroom, three-bathroom house on Elberta Drive in 2020, thinking she was buying her forever home.
Instead, nonstop rainfall has led to her house flooding three times in just two years, twice in 2025.
Other residents like Ashley Royalle Willis blame poor infrastructure for the flooding of her home.
Willis and her husband bought their home on Gaylewood in October 2022. With heavy downpours flooding her basement with cow manure, water, and a flooded HVAC unit, the family is stuck between a rock and a hard place.
Willis said she believes the expansion of Barksdale Elementary School in 2023 could have led to the flooding of her home.
"My insurance told me that if a pipe burst in the basement, it's covered, but natural water isn't," she said. "Even if we sold this one, we would have to turn around and buy another one."
In the proposed 2025-26 city budget, Clarksville Mayor Joe Pitts is planning to "address immediate needs," including the flooding residents are facing with stormwater drainage.
Pitts is calling stormwater drainage a 'priority' by using different approaches to address the problem.
One, the Gas and Water Department will hire a consultant to develop a Storm Water Utility. This position will take the lead on managing the stormwater infrastructure that is currently under the Street Department.
Another is changing codes to limit heavy rainfall on homes, residential and commercial structures.
Kenya Anderson is a reporter for The Leaf-Chronicle. She can be contacted at [e-mail] or on X at kenyaanderson32. Sign up for the Leaf-Chronicle to support local journalism at www.theleafchronicle.com.
This article originally appeared on Clarksville Leaf-Chronicle: Clarksville surpasses year-to-date rainfall totals due to flooding