EXPLAINER: How did Tennessee flooding downpour fall so fast?

By JONATHAN MATTISE
Associated Press

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A rural Tennessee community was pummeled with up to 17 inches (43 centimeters) of rain in less than 24 hours over the weekend, shattering the state record for one-day rainfall by more than 3 inches and leading to quick-rushing floods that killed at least 22 people and left a trail of destruction. The hardest-hit areas were inundated with nearly twice the amount of rain the region had seen in the previous worst-case flooding scenario, meteorologists said. Lines of storms moved over the area around the small town of Waverly for hours, wringing out a record amount of moisture — a situation scientists have warned may be more common because of global warming.