Heavy rains in eastern Tennessee have caused flooding, at least one death and forced Knox County schools to close.

>> Read more trending news

That did not stop a teenager from getting home with her frozen pizzas.

Julia Bryant, 18, returned to her Knoxville home late Saturday after a hike to find her home surrounded by water and unreachable by car after 5 inches of rain hit the area, the Knoxville News Sentinel reported.

Bryant, a senior at Bearden High School, stayed with a friend Saturday night, decided to use a canoe to navigate her way home Sunday the newspaper reported.

"We were like, 'How are you going to get home?' " Bryant's friend and classmate, Ansley Pacetti, told the News Sentinel. "She said, 'I don't know.' I was like, 'Well, we could just canoe over there?' "

After finding a friend with a canoe, Bryant picked it up, was driven to a spot near her home and then began paddling, the newspaper reported. The teen, who had two bags of groceries in the canoe, paddled the three-quarter-mile trip without any difficulty.

Becca Campbell, who was at Bryant's house watching the family dogs, watched as the teen "canoed her way into the driveway through a bunch of trees," the News Sentinel reported.

"It was a sweet reunion but also really absurd," Campbell told the newspaper. "I didn’t think she would actually do it. I thought it was all a joke, and then it was real. And she made it, but she’s not leaving until all the water’s gone."

About the Author

Keep Reading

Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Juneteenth, among others, will no longer be considered fee-free days at U.S. National Parks. While the MLK National Historic Park in Atlanta doesn't charge admission, the new schedule will affect such metro Atlanta sites as Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park. (Miguel Martinez/AJC)

Credit: Miguel Martinez-Jimenez

Featured

Fans celebrate in the stands after Cape Verde defeated Eswatini in a World Cup qualifying soccer match at Estádio Nacional in Praia, Cape Verde, Monday, Oct. 13, 2025, to clinch their qualification for the 2026 World Cup. (Cristiano Barbosa/AP)

Credit: AP