Some trees down along state routes in Greene County, EMA director reports

GREENE COUNTY, Tenn. (WJHL) — Trees were down along some state routes in Greene County early Friday morning, according to the county’s emergency management agency (EMA) director.

EMA Director Heather Sipe told News Channel 11 that as of 6:20 a.m., crews with the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) were working to remove trees that had fallen over state routes.

As of 6:20 a.m., Sipe said 435 people were without power in Greene County. News Channel 11 is tracking outages across the region; a full list of outages can be found by clicking here.

Greene County EMA expects the Nolichucky River to continue to rise. According to Sipe, the river levels were at 9.44 feet in Embreeville as of 6:20 a.m., which is just under action stage.

The agency expects the Nolichucky River to crest at 15.5 feet by Saturday morning.

Emergency officials from across the area have urged caution to anyone driving on Friday as multiple roads have already flooded.

Hurricane Helene is expected to impact the Tri-Cities region primarily between 8 a.m. and noon. Helene was downgraded to a tropical storm early Friday as it passed over Georgia after making landfall in Big Bend, Florida around 11:20 p.m. on Thursday .

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