Linda Almond Waverly Tennessee woman swept away moments after livestreaming on Facebook rising floodwaters in her hometown over the weekend.
A Tennessee woman drowned in the rising floodwaters moments after having livestreamed the impromptu deluge on social media. The woman’s death took place during the catastrophic flash flooding in Tennessee that has left at least 22 people dead and 50 persons missing over the weekend.
Linda Almond went live on Facebook around 10:15 a.m. on Saturday morning, showing the deadly situation developing around her home in Waverly, Tennessee.
The one minute video would be her before she was carried away.
‘Well, if anybody’s seeing me on Facebook Live, we’re being flooded right now in Waverly, Tennessee. Really scary,’ Almond is heard saying in the video.
She shows the mud-brown water filled with debris ripping past her home. She then lights a cigarette.
Understand how important it is to tell the people in their life that you love them
‘Whoa. Whoa,’ the woman says after something seems to have suddenly changed.
‘I think something just hit the side of the house,’ a male voice says off-camera, likely her son.
‘This is really scary,’ Almond says, while sounds of rushing water can be heard.
‘Oh my goodness. Oh my goodness,’ she says before the video ends.
Almond and her son were able to climb onto the roof of the house as the waters rose, only to be both swept away when the roof collapsed soon after, family members told WKRN. They said Almond’s son was rescued but she did not survive.
Almond’s sister later identified her body to authorities, her brother Leo Almond confirmed on Facebook.
Family members said they want to share Linda Almond’s story to show how terrifying the flooding was and how quickly Mother Nature can turn.
They asked that people understand how important it is to tell the people in their life that you love them because you never know when they will be gone.
Small Tennessee towns like Waverly were pummeled with as much as 17 inches of rain in less than 24 hours on Saturday, breaking the state’s previous single-day rainfall record of 13.6 inches recorded in 1982, according to the National Weather Service Nashville.
Among the fatalities were 7-month-old twins, identified as Ryan and Riliegh by grandma Angie Willeby. The grandmother said the babies were swept from their father’s arms in Waverly during the flash flood Saturday.
