Fireworks still scheduled for tonight as heavier rains move out of area

The Oak Ridge fireworks show is still scheduled for this evening, and crews were loading the fireworks Sunday morning, Oak Ridge Fire Department Chief Darryl Kerley said.

The July 4 fireworks were rescheduled for 10 p.m. today (Sunday, July 7) because of forecasts calling for heavy rain before and on Independence Day.

The event itself starts at 7 p.m. today at A.K. Bissell Park. Radio host Jack Ryan will be transmitting live from the park beginning at 6 p.m. and will conclude the live broadcast on Merle 96.7 FM with a patriotic medley as the fireworks are shot, according to a city press release last week.

The Oak Ridge Community Band has also re-scheduled their patriotic music concert for 7:30 p.m. this evening at the pavilion, the press release said.

The band’s music program will include patriotic tunes, the traditional “1812 Overture,” Broadway tunes, a special presentation of “Benny Goodman: King of Swing,” marches, ragtime, and a rousing rendition of “Stars and Stripes Forever.”

Many other cities in East Tennessee also rescheduled their July 4 fireworks and events because of the bad weather last week.

This morning, the National Weather Service in Morristown issued a flood watch through 8 p.m. for much of East Tennessee, southwest North Carolina, and southwest Virginia. Forecasters said an additional one to two inches of rain is possible through 8 p.m. today.

But at 11:39 a.m., the NWS said heavier rains are finally moving northeast of the flooded areas. The low pressure area is now over southern Indiana and moving northeast, pulling the heavier rains out of the region.

Some scattered showers and isolated thunderstorms are still possible this afternoon and evening, but the more widespread rains should fall over northeast Tennessee and southwest Virginia, forecasters said. Those areas have been relatively dry this weekend.