Mary Evelyn Nicole Manning-Kellione, 39, died in Grainger County, Tennessee, on Sunday morning after she saw her son get swept into a culvert and entered the water to rescue him, according to the Grainger County Sheriff’s Office.
The son was able to surface at the other end of the culvert and came to safety when he realized his mother was in the water, the sheriff’s office said in a statement. Rescue personnel later located Manning-Kellione lodged inside the culvert.
A Facebook post describing the incident said Manning-Kellione’s son realized only afterward that his mother had entered the water for him and had not emerged, calling her “a real-life super mom” and “the tragic and perfect example of the absolute superhuman lengths a mother will go to for her children.”
Manning-Kellione’s death was among at least five reported during flooding in recent days in a region encompassing Tennessee and Kentucky. Kentucky authorities have confirmed four deaths: three in Madison County — two at a residence in Richmond and a man swept away in his vehicle — and one in Jackson County.
Kentucky authorities were investigating an additional death Sunday in Hardin County involving a car that crashed into a flooded creek amid heavy rainfall, the Kentucky news outlet WDRB reported. Emergency responders pulled two minors and an adult driver from the vehicle. One of the minors was pronounced dead at a hospital Sunday. The driver was booked on allegations of driving while intoxicated.
The National Weather Service’s prediction center upgraded the flood threat Sunday for parts of Kentucky and Tennessee to a level three out of four, described as a “moderate risk.” Meteorologists warned that rainfall rates of 2 to 3 inches per hour were possible, with daily totals reaching up to 5 inches in some areas.
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear provided an update Sunday afternoon in a video posted to X, saying that nine counties had declared states of emergency. Some of those counties “got hit with record or almost record amounts of rain in very short periods of time,” Beshear said.
“Bridges have been wiped out, entire roads have been wiped away and there is still standing and moving water,” Beshear said, advising residents to stay off roads. He warned businesses against price-gouging and signed an order allowing pharmacies in affected areas to fill prescriptions that had been washed away or were no longer safe to take.
The governor asked the public to join him and his wife, Britainy, in praying for families affected by “this difficult time.”