The Flood

I'm sure you are tired of seeing all of my flood posts, but it's all we have seen or talked about the past couple days. When you hear about floods you always think, well they shouldn't have built in the floodplain. Let's face it. The majority of the major floods in this country are devastating because homes and businesses were built in the floodplain. If your house is in a floodplain, make sure you have flood insurance. You can check this website to see if you are in a floodplain. Or, use it before you buy a house so you avoid being in a floodplain all together. But, the thing that is so devastating here is that many of the areas affected are not in a floodplain. Water is in areas that no one could have ever imagined it could have gotten there.

I read an interesting article commenting on how the national media has largely ignored the flood.

"A large part of the reason that we are being ignored is because of who we are. Think about that for just a second. Did you hear about looting? Did you hear about crime sprees? No…you didn’t. You heard about people pulling their neighbors off of rooftops. You saw a group of people trying to move two horses to higher ground. No…we didn’t loot. Our biggest warning was, “Don’t play in the floodwater.” When you think about it…that speaks a lot for our city. A large portion of why we were being ignored was that we weren’t doing anything to draw attention to ourselves. We were handling it on our own."

As the water subsides, it will be months before many people can get back to their normal lives. Many organizations are accepting volunteers and donations. Every little bit helps.

The Nashville Red Cross

The Tennessee Emergency Management Agency
(TEMA) has activated the Tennessee Emergency Donations Hotline to
accept contributions to support state flood victims. Volunteers
will begin answering calls at 8 a.m. on Wed., May 5. The toll free
number is (866) 586-4483, and the hotline will be staffed from 8
a.m. to 8 p.m. CDT daily.

Text 'REDCROSS' to 90999 to donate $10 to disaster relief.

More about the Flood

“This isn’t just a hundred-year flood. People are now saying it could be a five-hundred or one-thousand year flood. To look at the damage from the air, it’s devastating. This is a multibillion-dollar disaster. It’s terrifying to see great institutions like Opryland and Opry Mills under water.” - Rep. Jim Cooper

And yet the national media has barely talked about it.

Flooding Update

We ended up with some water in our basement and garage, but have very little damage. I wanted to share some photos that I have collected from friends to show the widespread devastation. No one could have ever imagined any of this could happen. Rivers are beyond the 100 year flood levels.

The Nashville Flood. May 2, 2010.

I have no idea where this is, or if it's recent, but it shows how powerful flooding can be.

Flooding

Our area has been hit really hard by extremely heavy rainfall. Areas that aren't really even close to creeks and rivers have been engulfed with water. We are really lucky in that our house does sit up slightly higher than most of our neighborhood. The water is draining away very well. We do have some leaks around our chimney, but our basement is still dry.