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Dyersburg officials say shelters, rescue teams aided hundreds during weekend storms; 39 people rescued by boat
Summary
Mayor and city leaders told the board April 7 that Dyersburg opened safe-room shelters for thousands and coordinated water rescues after tornado- and flood-related storms; city and county agencies rescued 39 people and the American Red Cross is operating a shelter at First United Methodist Church.
Dyersburg Mayor told the Board of Mayor and Aldermen on April 7 that the city activated shelters and coordinated with county and state partners after storms and flooding that affected parts of the city over the previous week.
“That's 4 events total. We had a total of about 2,700 people that used our safe rooms,” the Mayor said, adding that Saturday’s two events drew “about 2,000 people” and that city staff coordinated with the Red Cross and other partners. The Mayor said crews performed water rescues and “we rescued 39 people today, out of their homes, with water rescue with the boat.”
Alderman James Baltimore praised city employees and first responders for their work during the storms and appeals to the board to examine drainage where repeated flooding has occurred. “He said he's been through 3 of these floods. His 1 request was that we as a city try to do something with the ditches that emptied in and all that,” Baltimore said during his remarks to the board.
City officials said the Dyer County Rescue Squad and Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency provided rescue boats, and that Dyersburg Fire and Police Department personnel and traffic safety teams were on scene. The Mayor said the city alerted the Red Cross and placed the organization on standby; the Red Cross opened a shelter at First United Methodist Church and is providing cots and meals.
Officials reported using the city’s community alert system in South Dyersburg, Evansville and other neighborhoods and said power companies coordinated planned outages where necessary. The Mayor said some residents declined to evacuate and that the city did not carry out a mandatory evacuation but conducted door-to-door outreach and public alerts.
Board members and staff thanked multiple departments — street, police, fire, sanitation and shelter teams — for the response. Alderman Baltimore and others asked staff to follow up on drainage and ditch maintenance in flood-prone neighborhoods.
The board did not take formal action on the rescue operations at the April 7 meeting; members requested continued coordination with county and nonprofit partners and additional follow-up on drainage concerns.
