Sunday TEMA Flash Report confirms 12 weather-related deaths in East Tennessee

TENNESSEE (WJHL) — The Tennessee Emergency Management Agency (TEMA) released a new Flash Report on Sunday, which confirmed another person died as a result of flooding in Unicoi County.

In the Sunday report, 12 weather-related fatalities were confirmed by the Tennessee Department of Health:

The report said the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) is coordinating with local law enforcement on 15 active leads for missing persons. TEMA noted this number does not represent the total of unaccounted individuals, just public leads that still need to be cleared.

Three wastewater treatment plants reported problems within their systems due to flooding impacts, TEMA said:

According to the Flash Report, the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) issued a temporary water contact advisory, urging the public to avoid all contact with bodies of water affected by the flooding. This applies to all surface water in the Nolichucky, French Broad, Pigeon, Doe and Watauga River watersheds–as well as any other waters affected by the flooding.

TEMA said flood victims in Carter, Cocke, Greene, Hamblen, Hawkins, Johnson, Unicoi and Washington counties can apply for FEMA Individual Assistance. That assistance became available to the above declared counties after Gov. Lee's Oct. 2 announcement about the approval of his request for an Expedited Major Disaster Declaration.

Since approval, there have been 3,315 valid registrations, TEMA reports. Flood victims can apply for direct assistance through FEMA's IA program online 24/7 or by calling 1-800-621-3362 between 7 a.m. and 11 p.m. Multilingual operators are available.

Those eligible for the IA program could receive help with rental assistance, home repair and personal property replacement, as well as other uninsured/underinsured disaster losses. More information on FEMA.gov/assistance/individual .

Damage assessments are still in progress, and TEMA said those results will inform possible additional requests to be made to the federal government.

"TEMA is working with state and federal partners to establish Multi-Agency Resource Center (MARC) locations in some impacted areas over the weekend to assist survivors with registration and ensure residents have access to all available resources to apply for assistance," the report states. "Once these centers are open, information about the centers will be available."

The report said a Disaster Hotline–(423) 830-2696–has been established to serve as a regional hotline for community members, donors and national/international organizations.

A Crisis Clean-Up Hotline, (844) 965-1386, is available with services provided at no cost for help in disaster clean-up efforts.

TEMA recommended community members continue to monitor information provided by local officials to remain safe.