Ten families are suing CSX Transportation for up to $450 million over flooding that killed 20 people in Tennessee last year, claiming a clog underneath the railroad giant's bridge in rural Waverly allowed a “deadly tidal wave” to form.
The lawsuit filed Tuesday in circuit court in Humphreys County claims the bottlenecked culvert and the earthen railbed supporting CSX's elevated tracks formed a man-made dam, impeding the normal flow of Trace Creek. When the railbed collapsed, it released a "a torrent of millions of gallons of water" during the August 2021 floods, the lawsuit says.
