Anonymous Donor Pays for Funerals of All 20 Victims of This Weekend's Tennessee Flooding
A man has reportedly paid for the funerals of the 20 people who died in flash flooding that took place in Tennessee over the weekend.
FOX 17 reported on Thursday that the man is from "out of town and doesn't want to be identified."
The news station noted that the victims of the flooding in Middle Tennessee include a toddler, a man who attempted to save a drowning elderly woman, two 7-month-old twins, and a woman who was swept away when she tried to warn neighbors.
In the wake of the flooding in Tennessee, which began on Saturday, many have been raising funds for the families of victims who died in the disaster.
As of Thursday evening, a GoFundMe set up to raise money for the family of the twins killed in the flooding had raised nearly $107,000.
In an update on August 24, the organizer of the page thanked donors.
"[T]oday was very hard, the funeral arrangements have been made, the donations we have received just makes us cry with joy and it is very overwhelming how many people are willing to donate to help," the post read.
"After the burial we will be looking at a vehicle for this family, then a residence for them to be at until their town gets back in order. Your donations have been such a blessing to this family. thank you from the bottom of our hearts," it added.
A local bank, Apex Bank, has said it will donate $2,500 toward the funerals of each victim lost to the flooding, WKRN reported on Wednesday.
Tennessee officials concluded their search for victims and finalized the death toll from the event on Thursday.
"We're sad our count is at 20, but glad families have closure," Waverly Department of Public Safety Chief Grant Gillespie said, according to The Tennessean.
In addition to causing 20 deaths, the flooding on Saturday washed away storefronts and bridges, led to power outages and potentially left hundreds of homes uninhabitable.
During a news conference in Waverly which was hit particularly hard by the flooding, FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell said Thursday she was concerned there will be additional floods as the world grapples with climate change.
"Floods like this are not something that we see typically around the country," Criswell said, according to the Associated Press.
"And as we continue to see the changes from climate change, I fear that this may be something that we start to see see more often," she added.
