Since I’ve been living in this area, we’ve had at least two years in a row of drought during the summers. Winter of 2008/2009 we had a major ice storm, and just a few miles north of us, ice wreaked devastation all over Kentucky where residents were without water or power for weeks. Volunteers from the electric company in Nashville went up to try and help them. People who had worked in New Orleans after Katrina commented that it was worse than Katrina. Electric poles were snapped like twigs. I, myself, got off easy. Pregnant, with a deployed husband, I only had to spend one cold, boring night without power.
This year, we’re heading into summer with a massive flood, mainly along the Cumberland River, which twists its way down middle Tennessee.
When you do hear about it, you mainly hear about Nashville. It’s not just Nashville, though. It’s all along the Cumberland River, and I don’t doubt that it’s also in low areas where water can collect, and probably along creeks. There was flooding up in Kentucky as well, with reports of road closings.
We ourselves got off lightly. We had a big tree branch that drove itself into the ground like a spear in our backyard from the winds. The end of our gravel drive, which goes over a ditch, was washed away, leaving a +/- foot wide and close to a foot deep gully. Living at the bottom of a hill, debris from the ditches at the top had piled up before our drive, allowing the water to rush over it and carry the earth and gravel away.
This past weekend was like none other I’ve ever experienced, as far as rain. It wasn’t just raining, it was storming. Water poured down constantly for two days. When it did let up, it was barely a break before the next torrent. Then it just kept raining. Monday morning, the clouds were gone, the skies were bright blue, and the sun was shining in all its Spring glory.
Here, downtown is situated against the Cumberland River. This was an area that was trying to make a comeback. New businesses had just moved in, and the city had just redone sewer systems that had been causing a problem in the area. The intersection had just been repaved. It is all underwater.
No one can go to work there, and the damage to the buildings and inventory is unimaginable in this area. Sure, it’s not a hurricane, but at least with hurricanes you get a few days warning it’s coming. In a hurricane, you have the ability to board up and try to protect your belongings, and leave. Here, all you get is a forecast of rain, and that usually doesn’t mean ruin.
I had gone grocery shopping Monday, after the rain, and I was noticing a lot of water in other people’s carts. I started talking with the lady I stood next to. She said she had just come from the local Walmart and people were fighting over water, taking it out of each others carts, and the shelves were quickly emptying out of canned goods. I’ll have to take her word for it, because just hearing that, I had no desire to go to Walmart and see for myself.
The water treatment facility was flooded, so people were trying to make sure they would have enough water. Some were doing it in a rather uncivilized fashion, apparently.
A coworker of my husband had a video of his house posted. His basement was flooded. Some of their other coworkers were there trying to help him out with the flooding. He/they had sandbagged the doorway, and were trying to pump the water out of his basement. My husband informed me, when I showed him that video, that his coworker had just had an in-ground pool installed. Well, apparently his pool just got a lot bigger and muddier, as whoever was filming surveyed the area and showed the massive flooding by (and in) his house.
Here is a
gallery of pictures that people have taken of the flooding in our area.
Over time, the flooding will eventually recede, and it already is starting. Then people will have to pick up the pieces of their lives. I’m sure there will be a lot of inspecting, repairing, and washing going on in the following weeks. With some, it might even mean they have to have their house demolished and rebuilt. Only time will tell the true extent of all the damage.
