NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — Tennessee Governor Bill Lee has declared a state of emergency after catastrophic flooding hit swaths of East Tennessee courtesy of Hurricane Helene .
Helene dumped dozens of inches of rain across the Volunteer State Friday, prompting multiple road closures around Middle and East Tennessee, starting flash floods around the Great Smoky Mountains and causing “substantial damage.”
Downtown Newport ordered to evacuate, State of Emergency declared for Cocke County
Helene made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane late Thursday night off the panhandle of Florida and into Georgia before weakening to a tropical depression over Tennessee-North Carolina border.
The governor issued Executive Order No. 105 Friday afternoon. The declaration states Tennessee has “requested an Emergency Declaration from the President of the United States,” in part, and declared a major disaster and state of emergency beginning at 12:01 a.m. Friday, Sept. 27.
During the state of emergency, certain state laws can be suspended to expediate relief efforts in the affected areas, including providing healthcare to individuals harmed by the storms, providing prescription medications, participating in health programs, waiving fees for licenses for people needing photo identification, allowing more vehicles transporting relief supplies to travel on ordinarily closed roads as needed, and more.