Relentless downpours flooded the Chattanooga area late Tuesday, turning roads into rivers, shutting parts of Interstate 24 and triggering dozens of swift-water rescues. Chattanooga Airport measured 6.42 inches of rain, the National Weather Service said, marking the city’s second-wettest day on record since 1879. Hamilton County Mayor Weston Wamp declared a local state of emergency, and a flood watch remained in effect across much of Middle Tennessee as additional storms were forecast. The flooding proved fatal in the suburb of East Ridge just after midnight Wednesday, when saturated ground toppled a large tree onto a sport-utility vehicle, killing all three occupants—a mother, father and their three-year-old daughter, identified by police as Yuri Tomas Vicente Lopez, 29; Giomara Epifania Vasquez, 27; and Emma Vicente. Separately, emergency crews were searching for a man seen swept away by floodwaters Tuesday night. Firefighters and sheriff’s deputies rescued motorists stranded in submerged vehicles and evacuated residents from at least three homes. "This is extremely widespread," Hamilton County Sheriff Austin Garrett said, noting the high water hampered first-responders’ own movements. Officials urged residents to avoid travel and to heed the National Weather Service’s warning that already-saturated soils could flash-flood again with little notice.