Prayers for Tennessee, Gulf Coast

What’s happening in parts of Tennessee right now is awful. Just awful:

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The cresting of the swollen Cumberland River is little comfort amid fears receding floodwaters will reveal more victims of deadly storms that swamped much of middle Tennessee with flash floods so swift many could not escape.

The death toll is at 28 across three states, but hope is slim that number will stand Tuesday as recovery begins in earnest following record rains that pushed the river’s muddy waters into Music City’s historic downtown. Residents and authorities know they’ll find widespread property damage in inundated areas, but dread even more devastating discoveries.

“Those in houses that have been flooded and some of those more remote areas, do we suspect we will find more people? Probably so,” Nashville Fire Chief Kim Lawson said. “We certainly hope that it’s not a large number.”

Thousands of people fled rising water and hundreds were rescued, but bodies were recovered Monday from homes, a yard, even a wooded area outside a Nashville supermarket. By Monday night, the rapidly rising waters were blamed in the deaths of 17 people in Tennessee alone, including 10 in Nashville.

The weekend storms also killed six people in Mississippi and four in Kentucky, including one man whose truck ran off the road and into a flooded creek. One person was killed by a tornado in western Tennessee.

Here’s a slideshow of photos from the affected areas.

Please keep the people in these states in your thoughts and prayers as rescue and recovery efforts get underway, as well as those who are battling the oil spill in the Gulf Coast in hopes of trying to prevent it from becoming an epic environmental disaster.

For other ways you can help the TN flood relief efforts, click here and keep scrolling.