A 39-year-old Tennessee woman died Sunday morning while attempting to save her son from high flood waters, the Grainger County Sheriff's Office reported. Mary Evelyn Nicole Manning-Kellione saw her son swept into a culvert and entered the water to rescue him. Her son emerged safely on the other side, but Manning-Kellione became trapped and drowned.
“The son was able to surface at the other end and came to safety when he realized his mother was in the water,” the sheriff's office stated. “Rescue personnel located the individual lodged inside the culvert.” A Facebook post described Manning-Kellione as “a real-life super mom” and “the tragic and perfect example of the absolute superhuman lengths a mother will go to for her children.”
At Least Five Deaths Across Two States
Manning-Kellione's death is among at least five reported in flooding across Tennessee and Kentucky following intense rainfall. In Kentucky, four fatalities were confirmed: two in Madison County (a man and a woman at a residence in Richmond), a man swept away in his vehicle, and a fourth in Jackson County. An additional death in Hardin County is under investigation after a car crashed into a flooded creek. Emergency responders rescued two minors and an adult driver, but one minor was pronounced dead at a hospital Sunday. The driver was booked on suspicion of driving while intoxicated.
State of Emergency Declared
Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear declared a state of emergency in nine counties Sunday afternoon. “Some of those counties got hit with record or almost record amounts of rain in very short periods of time,” he said in a video posted to X. He urged residents to avoid roads, warning that “bridges have been wiped out, entire roads have been wiped away and there is still standing and moving water.” Beshear also signed an order to allow pharmacies in affected areas to refill prescriptions that were lost or compromised.
The National Weather Service upgraded the flood threat to level three out of four (moderate risk) for parts of Kentucky and Tennessee. Meteorologists warned of rainfall rates of 2 to 3 inches per hour, with daily totals up to 5 inches in some areas. Beshear asked the public to join him and his wife in praying for affected families during “this difficult time.”
