Davidson County faces a threat of flooding and strong winds this weekend as Hurricane Isaias approaches Middle Tennessee, with the National Weather Service placing the county and other parts of the region under a flood watch from late Friday night through Sunday morning.
The weather alert comes alongside several significant Nashville developments: attorneys for Christa Pike are seeking clemency after she survived an execution attempt, Air France is preparing to launch nonstop Paris flights, and a new lawsuit challenges signatures supporting a proposed change to the Nashville Fairgrounds’ required uses.
Weekend rain and wind
Forecasters expect the remnants of Isaias to bring one to three inches of rain, with the most intense rainfall likely Saturday afternoon and evening. Areas south of Interstate 40 are expected to receive the heaviest rain.
Wind gusts could reach 30 to 40 miles per hour, and tornadoes associated with the storm are possible. The flood watch covers the potential for rising water in rivers, creeks and streams, along with flooding in low-lying places.
An unusually dry September has left conditions that could contribute to excessive runoff when heavy rain arrives. A flood watch signals that conditions could produce flooding; it is not the same as a warning that flooding is occurring or imminent.
Isaias became a tropical storm Wednesday and strengthened into a hurricane about 20 hours later. Forecasts call for the storm to take a more northerly course after its expected Friday night landfall.
Pike’s attorneys seek sentence commutation
Christa Pike was walking with assistance Thursday, eight days after surviving two rounds of lethal injection at Nashville’s Riverbend Maximum Security Institution, according to her attorneys.
Her legal team said she regained consciousness Tuesday and began taking a few steps Wednesday. By Thursday, they said, injuries to her arms were healing, with movement and strength improving.
The attorneys also described continuing difficulties with memory and concentration. Their update distinguished those cognitive problems from the physical progress she had made in walking and using her arms.
Pike’s defense team again urged Gov. Bill Lee to commute her sentence to life imprisonment without parole. That change would prevent another execution attempt while keeping her incarcerated for life.
Nonstop service to Paris
Air France plans to begin flights between Nashville International Airport and Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport on May 14, 2027. The airline announced Thursday that service will operate Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays through October 2027.
Tickets are scheduled to go on sale the following Wednesday. No airline currently provides nonstop service between the two airports, and BNA has no direct flights to continental Europe.
Doug Kruelen, president and CEO of the Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority, said the route would broaden the region’s international connections and support tourism, commerce and cultural exchange.
Fairgrounds signatures challenged
A complaint filed Thursday in Davidson County Chancery Court seeks to remove 2,000 signatures from a petition backing a Fairgrounds charter amendment. The proposal would replace auto racing as a required Fairgrounds function with affordable and workforce housing.
The plaintiffs include a Davidson County voter and Decline to Sign, an LLC formed by racing figure Neil Chaffin. They allege canvassers misrepresented the proposal to people who signed. Those claims are allegations in the lawsuit.
Chaffin also participated in earlier litigation over the amendment effort. In April, Chancellor Pat Moskal ruled that a previous version’s title was insufficiently clear.
Restore Our Fairgrounds, the coalition supporting the amendment, said it sought to verify requests to withdraw signatures. It said a form letter bearing plaintiff Devra Bagwell’s signature arrived through a third-party email account, and an inquiry to her listed personal email received no response.
Even if 2,000 signatures are removed, that reduction is unlikely to keep the coalition from reaching the required signature total.