The Nashville Flood 2010 Observations by Murray "Nick" Nicholson

The Nashville Flood 2010 by Murray “Nick” Nicholson------Saturday, May 1, 2010
Would you look at that rain coming down, I said to Ruth. I don’t think we should go to Charlene’s reception for Candy and her new husband. “I can not go”, Ruth said emphatically….”after Charlene game to Rhonda’s baby shower in all that rain last Saturday….I have got to go” I nodded agreement and so we started out for Charlene’s in a downpour. I went and got the car while Ruth waited in the lobby. It was parked under the parking shed and the new golf umbrella I had just bought kept my upper body dry but that water rushing down off the hill got my feet soaked.

So we drove down the hill to highway 70 and started for I-440 figuring that would be the quickest way even in the rain. As we drove through Belle Meade we went past Richland Creek and the roads that cross it were already closed by the local police.
Many of Charlene and MJ’s friends showed up for the reception. I settled in the family room with others while Ruth made the rounds renewing old acquaintances. The big screen TV was turned to one of the local stations and they were already showing live shots of the flooding that was beginning to take place. They showed a section of I-24 under water with only the tops of cars showing above the water. Several semis were also stranded…and then the strangest sight….there was a portable building floating in what appeared to be the inside lane. As it floated by the sunken automobiles it began to collide with some and in a slow motion, almost eerie fashion the roof of the portable began to peel back.

By this time the eyes of two thirds of those in the room were fixed on the TV set. Then there appeared a video of West End Avenue, the area we had just driven through coming to Charlene’s. The street was completely flooded right in front of the Kroger store. A good Samaritan, a tall young man was wading waist deep in water to rescue a mother and her teenage daughter from their half sunken Toyota.
Now it was three thirtyish and we had been there almost an hour and I began to think about leaving and heading back home. Others also were beginning to wonder if their homes or the homes of their friends and neighbors were affected. We still had to wait on the cake though.

Along about four Ruth and I began to say our goodbyes and head out. There was a pickup blocking our car so we got Candy’s husband to move it for us. As we were about to leave MJ and I discussed what the best way to go was. I thought I would avoid the interstates for the most part and opted to take Briley Parkway past the Opryland Hotel and go around the North side of the city. Remember this was Saturday and it was due to rain another 30 hours until late Sunday night.

We stayed home Sunday and watched the rain. In a way we were oblivious to there being any flooding….maybe a little…and some power outage maybe…but no flooding. Well if you look at a map of Nashville you will see there are numerous rivers and creeks that run through it…the Cumberland the biggest snakes in and around the city. To the North it is dammed and forms Old Hickory Lake.The Stones river is East of town and is dammed up to form Percy Priest Lake. To the Southeast and West are the Harpeth, Big Harpeth and Little Harpeth rivers and then the smaller creeks through town the Richland and Mills creeks.

Some call this a 500 or 1000 year flood and I know a flood of this magnitude had never happened in my lifetime,…I am in my 77th year. I can remember as a small boy that the Cumberland would occasionally flood and water would be up to Second Avenue on Broadway….almost to Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge. Yes, Tootsie’s was there way back then just like the Grand Ole Opry. I do know that the Congress began authorizing damming of the many rivers and streams for flood control and hydro-electric power and many were built not only in Tennessee but in many parts of the country. When I use to crisscross this great country as a TWA pilot I began to take notice of all the dams that were in existence from the East coast to California….Thank you congress for doing something right. And thanks to President Eisenhower for the Interstate system.

Monday, May 3. It was all too apparent how much was lost by so many people. I would say almost two thirds were okay and another third lost everything. Our local TV stations were broadcasting the bad news continually and the local government and many organizations began to mobilize for the cleanup. It was amazing. Hands On Nashville, a non profit group had over 7000 people volunteer. The Red Cross volunteers gathered to help… Neighbors helped neighbors….a group of guys from my niece’s workplace came and helped her rip out water logged dry-board, carpets and flooring. Everything on the ground floor of her condo was destroyed and her car was a total loss. My good friend was doing the same to the downstairs of his big home and not getting anywhere, he said, when all of a sudden a group of sailors from the local recruiting station showed up to help him and by the end of the day the job was done. Soldiers came from Fort Campbell and others came from Chattanooga to help. Four of my cousins had homes and acreage on the Harpeth River and they lost everything. Think about it….you are 74 and you have lost all your worldly possessions….but no loss of life which they thank God for. But these are big loving families. They are all pulling together and I would guess by this time next year they will have rebuilt. My cousins daughter, although above the flood waters, had a giant pine tree uproot due to erosion and crash into her garage totaling her two autos and demolishing the roof of her house.

These are some of my stories. We all pitch in the best we can…..food, water, money…old clothing, furniture. I check the national/world news nightly and there was no mention of the Nashville flood. Notably absent in all of this was the lack of national media coverage. Here was a disaster in our own back yard. One of catastrophic proportions. But where was the media… no where to be found.
Later on national news coverage gave us about 5 minutes, but went back to focusing on a failed car bomb and an oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. While both are clearly important stories, was that any reason to ignore our story?

I am so proud of my hometown and how everyone responded. Nashville is a big family….and families take care of their own. Here are some other observations by a local blogger…a sportswriter.

“But let’s look at the other side of the coin for a moment. 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.
Parts of Nashville that could never even conceivably be underwater were underwater. Some of them still are. Opry Mills and the Opryland Hotel are, for all intents and purposes, destroyed. People died sitting in standstill traffic on the Interstate. I’m still having trouble comprehending all of it. We’ll be discussing the new Predators’ season with nary a thought of these past few days. But in a way, they changed everyone in this town. We now know that that it can happen to us…but also know that we can handle it.
Because we are Nashville"

FEMA is now in town and are setting up locations all over Nashville and the surrounding counties. But those affected have to file with FEMA. Where whole houses have floated away homeowners are marking their addresses on a piece of concrete or whatever to let all concerned know that a house once stood at this location.