Volunteers carry furniture out of a flood-damaged home as an American flag dries out on the lawn Tuesday in Nashville, Tenn. Residents have started the task of cleaning up after heavy weekend rain caused the Cumberland River to overflow its banks.

Nashville, Tenn. ? The Cumberland River finally began receding Tuesday, exposing mud-caked homes and submerged cars as officials searched door to door for more victims of a record-busting flash flood and weekend storm already blamed for nearly 30 deaths.

No new fatalities were reported Tuesday and it was unclear whether anyone remained missing.

The weekend deluge swept many motorists to their deaths even after forecasters and Nashville’s mayor warned people not to drive.

But staying put carried frightening consequences for others as the swollen Cumberland and its tributaries started pouring into thousands of homes.

“I kept watching TV, that was my source, and (Mayor) Karl Dean was saying stay put, don’t drive,” Nashville resident Cheri Newlin said. Police eventually told Newlin to evacuate on Monday, but by then, the water was so close that she had to flee by boat, leaving her three cats behind. She is now at a shelter and hasn’t been able to get back to her house to check on her pets and assess damage.

By Tuesday, the flash floods were blamed in the deaths of 17 people in Tennessee alone, including nine in Nashville. At least nine people died in vehicles in Tennessee. Others were found in their homes or yards, including an elderly couple discovered in their Nashville home.

A 21-year-old Nashville resident died when he tried to wade the waters in front of his home but got swept away in the current.

Sections of downtown and some of Music City’s popular tourist attractions remained flooded Tuesday, including the Grand Ole Opry House and the Country Music Hall of Fame.

Full damage estimates were unavailable, but the Opryland Hotel alone suffered more than $75 million in damage; it will be closed for three to six months.

The storm dumped more than a foot of rain from Saturday to Sunday, sending floodwaters rising rapidly in the middle of the night.

Residents in some of the hardest hit areas said they didn’t know if they should flee or stick it out for fear that if they left their homes, they would be swept away by the muddy waters that turned streets into virtual rivers.

“We had less than an hour to get out,” said Amanda Fatherree. She left her home on Nashville’s west side Sunday after her mother yelled that the Harpeth River, normally located a quarter-mile away, had crept up to her back porch.

Nashville resident Judy Kestner had thought everything was going to be OK Saturday night when she went to bed. The water in her backyard had started receding, and there were no warnings of anything other than flash floods.

But then the howlings of her Siberian husky awoke her at 3 a.m. Sunday. The dog had been trapped in about 3 feet of rising water.

“It was up to her nose. She was barely getting air,” said Kestner, 54.

Robert Strunk, a retired computer designer who now works at the Opry House, wasn’t told to leave until nearly midnight Saturday, and by then, it was too late to drive. Instead, he waded through water up to his thighs carrying his two dogs away from his Nashville home.

“It’s hard enough to walk with two dogs. I’m 77 years old. I couldn’t carry clothes or anything,” he said.

Officials said they made the right call to advise people to stay inside, pointing to a higher number of deaths on the roads and outside than in homes.

“At this point I’m not going to second-guess and say what should or could have been done differently,” Mayor Dean said Tuesday.