Some preparations done after past storms may have helped lessen the impact of the most recent disaster, but experts know more will be needed. Tennessee is part of a swath of the South experiencing wetter storms fueled by rising temperatures and moisture from warming water in the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea.

Rivers rose and flooding worsened across the U.S. South and Midwest, threatening communities already waterlogged and badly damaged by days of heavy rain and storms that killed at least 18 people

Rivers rose and flooding worsened across the U.S. South and Midwest, threatening communities already damaged by days of storms that have killed at least 18 people.