From the news wires

Nashville flooding causes damage to downtown area

Nashville flooding damaged several areas in the city's downtown center. Water has been reported in the basement of the Country Music Hall of Fame.

AP Photo/The Tennessean, Larry McCormack

Spectators look at downtown Nashville from the Shelby Street Pedestrian Bridge over the Cumberland River on Monday, May 3, 2010. The Cumberland River continues to rise at Nashville, but is nearing its crest. Floodwater has spilled onto a couple of downtown streets near the riverfront and restaurants and bars in the tourist district are closed.

By Chris Talbott Associated Press
Sheila Burke Associated Press

May 3, 2010 | Nashville, Tennessee

Nashville braced for more deaths Monday as the flooded Cumberland River continued to swell, sending muddy water rushing through neighborhoods and into parts of the historic heart of Music City.

The flooding came after a destructive line of weekend storms killed 22 people in Tennessee, Mississippi and Kentucky.

The flash floods caught the city off-guard, and thousands of residents and tourists were forced to flee homes and hotels as the river rapidly spilled over its banks. Eleven of the 12 people killed in Tennessee drowned, including six in Nashville.

Using motor boats, jet skis and canoes, authorities and volunteers rescued residents trapped in flooded homes on Monday, some which looked like islands surround by dark brown river water.

The downtown — home of a historic warehouse district that dates back to the 1800s and is now occupied by bars and restaurants — was nearly deserted Monday after authorities evacuated the area.

Water seeped into a mechanical room in the basement of the Country Music Hall of Fame, though it was not immediately clear if there was any damage.

Two blocks away, the historic Ryman Auditorium, longtime former home of the Grand Ole Opry, was in no immediate danger nor were many of the country music recording studios, located about a mile west of downtown.

The Cumberland River was expected to crest Monday afternoon at more than 11 feet (3.35 meters) above flood stage, and officials worried they may find more bodies in the rising floodwaters.

Thousands of people took refuge overnight in emergency shelters, including about 1,500 guests at the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center who spent the night at a high school to escape the flooding.

The resort's hotel, located northeast of downtown along the river, had "significant water" inside and would remain closed indefinitely, said hotel spokeswoman Kim Keelor.

A life-sized Elvis statue, missing his guitar, was laying on its back in the parking lot of the Wax Museum of the Stars near Opryland Hotel.

Water flooded parking lots around the nearby Grand Ole Opry House and the Opry Mills shopping mall, but officials there would not immediately confirm if water had made it inside those buildings.

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