After heavy flooding from heavy rains, authorities in the US state of Tennessee corrected the number of victims up to at least 21 deaths on Sunday. Up to 30 other people are still missing, said Sheriff Chris Davis of Humphreys County, a county about 100 kilometers west of Nashville, according to a report in the daily newspaper "The Tennessean". In addition, the mayor of the city of Waverly in the county had said that the youngest victim was only seven months old. The authorities have imposed a curfew on Sunday evening.
US President Joe Biden expressed his condolences to the victims in a speech in the White House.
He had instructed his team to pledge federal aid to the governor of Tennessee.
"We offer all the support you need at this terrible moment," said Biden.
After the rain from Friday night to Saturday noon (local time), flash floods occurred in several places.
The National Guard is helping to rescue those affected, it said on NBC.
Recordings showed flooded streets, vehicles washed away and buildings severely devastated.
According to ABC, there were also outages in the power and cell phone network.
The rainfall has reached record levels for the state, it said.
The storm moved "almost as fast as a tornado" over the region in central Tennessee, said the mayor of the city of Waverly on local broadcaster WKRN.
In addition to Humphreys and Waverly, the districts of Dickson, Hickman and Houston are also badly affected by the floods, the civil protection agency said.
Between 22 and 43 centimeters of rain fell within six hours on Saturday morning.
The storm only subsided during the night.