Middle Tennessee braces for potential flooding from Francine

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) - Portions of Middle Tennessee are under a Flood Watch until Saturday morning due to heavy rain remnants of Francine.

Heavy tropical downpours could cause localized flooding, especially in poor drainage areas or flood-prone spots over the next couple of days.

Francine made landfall as a Category 2 hurricane along the coast of Louisiana earlier this week. She has now weakened down to a Tropical Storm, but she’s still packing a punch in southern states with heavy downpours, gusty winds and even a few isolated spin-up tornadoes along the Gulf Coast.

In the Midstate, rainfall totals will from 2″ - 3″ beginning Thursday and lasting through Sunday. We could see higher rainfall totals west of I-65, potentially exceeding 3″ of rain. Lesser amounts of rain are expected toward the Cumberland Plateau. Areas there should only expect around 1″-2″ through the weekend.

A Flood Watch is in effect through 7:00 A.M. Saturday for several southern counties in Middle Tennessee.

Along with the heavy rain, wind gusts will pick up to around 30 MPH at times, especially Thursday and Friday. There is a small chance that some of us could see some severe weather, including a brief spin-up tornado, but that chance is very low for the southern tier of Middle Tennessee.

Rain starts to gradually diminish over the weekend and into Monday. We look much drier by the middle of next week.