I know that some of you will be here to see the damages, facts, and info on this flood. So I will divide this post into two sections; ‘What Happened’ and ‘The Aftermath’. In the ‘What Happened’ section, there will be facts, information, records, and other incredible information regarding this flood and in ‘The Aftermath’, I will discuss the aftermath, show photos of the damages, and give a more personal/local look into things from my eyes and the eyes of my friends. Many people have been affected, and I feel I should share their stories/photos/videos/feelings to give you an insight to what has happened this weekend.
What Happened
On May 1st lasting through may 2nd, Nashville had the highest two day rainfall in recorded history, and there was massive property damage as a result. The record setting two day rainfall at the Nashville International Airport was 13.53 inches of rain in two days, absolutely obliterating the previous two day record of 6.68 inches of September 13-14 1979.
On the first day of flooding, interstates 24 and 65 had major flooding on them, completely submerging cars and trapping 18
wheelers. Franklin became a giant ocean, and the Cool Springs Mall was flooded. The image at right is a photo of the I-24 flooding, and full credit for the photo goes to Channel5 news in Nashville. There were a tragic 11 deaths across the state due to the flooding, 5 of which were in Nashville. Channel 2 WKRN says that the first death occurred on the I-24 flooding when cars became completely submerged.
A flood warning is still in effect across Middle Tennessee, because the ground is still saturated and the water has nowhere to go. Driving is also still hazardous, so when out be careful. Remember, TURN AROUND DON’T DROWN. It doesn’t matter how big your truck is. The water will either stall the engine or if the water is still moving it could completely wash your car away. It doesn’t have to be deep to do either.
From the National Weather Service:
…THE FLOOD WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 530 PM CDT MONDAY FOR WILSON…HUMPHREYS…BENTON…GILES…LAWRENCE…WAYNE…GRUNDY… LEWIS…BEDFORD…COFFEE…MARSHALL…STEWART…SUMNER…ROBERTSON… MONTGOMERY…MACON…CLAY…PICKETT…FENTRESS…OVERTON…JACKSON… TROUSDALE…CHEATHAM…SMITH…DAVIDSON…HOUSTON…VAN BUREN… RUTHERFORD…DICKSON…PUTNAM…WILLIAMSON…CUMBERLAND…DEKALB… PERRY…WHITE…CANNON…HICKMAN…WARREN AND MAURY COUNTIES…
…DANGEROUS FLOODING TO CONTINUE ACROSS MIDDLE TENNESSEE…
AT 728 AM CDT WIDESPREAD DANGEROUS FLOODING CONTINUES ACROSS MIDDLE TENNESSEE. RAINFALL HAS ENDED…BUT FLOODING WILL REMAIN A THREAT THROUGH TODAY AS RUNOFF CONTINUES TO FILTER INTO AREA CREEKS AND STREAMS. STORM TOTAL AMOUNTS SINCE LATE FRIDAY NIGHT AND EARLY SATURDAY MORNING RANGE FROM 6 TO 16 INCHES ACROSS MOST OF THE WARNED AREA. NUMEROUS REPORTS OF FLOODED ROADS…HIGHWAYS…AND HOMES HAVE BEEN RECEIVED…AND REPORTS OF WATER RESCUES HAVE BEEN REPORTED FROM NUMEROUS COUNTIES. IF YOU ARE NEAR A CREEK OR STREAM THAT IS RISING…SEEK HIGHER GROUND NOW AND FOLLOW ANY INSTRUCTIONS FROM LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICIALS.
DUE TO MAJOR FLOODING IN THE NASHVILLE METRO AREA…THE NASHVILLE METRO OFFICE OF EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT ADVISES DAVIDSON COUNTY CITIZENS TO PLEASE STAY OFF ROADS IF AT ALL POSSIBLE. MANY ROADS ARE IMPASSABLE OR BECOMING IMPASSABLE. THIS IS AN EXTREMELY DANGEROUS SITUATION.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS…
A FLOOD WARNING MEANS FLOODING IS OCCURRING OR IS IMMINENT. MOST FLOOD RELATED DEATHS OCCUR IN AUTOMOBILES. DO NOT DRIVE YOUR VEHICLE INTO AREAS WHERE THE WATER COVERS THE ROADWAY. THE WATER DEPTH MAY BE TOO GREAT TO ALLOW YOUR CAR TO CROSS SAFELY. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO CROSS WATER COVERED BRIDGES…DIPS…OR LOW WATER CROSSINGS. NEVER TRY TO CROSS A FLOWING STREAM…EVEN A SMALL ONE…ON FOOT. TO ESCAPE RISING WATER MOVE UP TO HIGHER GROUND.
The Aftermath
This flood personally affected many close friends of mine. There are stories on facebook of bailing water, living on a riverfront, and even kayaking through the raging flood waters. Below are the stories, photos, and captions of the flooding in Franklin and in Nashville. There is also a video a good friend of mine made by traveling Franklin via inflatable raft!
The photos in the following gallery were taken by local storm spotter David Drobny.
Also, here is a video from a good friend of mine who lives in Franklin, Jonathan Boehme.
Lastly, on a more local and personal level, is the flooding right in front of my house. The creek in my front yard that is normally only a few inches deep became well over 5 feet deep , and may have even been 6 feet! The creek couldn’t drain fast enough, so it began to flood our driveway, and soon the road. The creek washed over the bridges spanning it, trapping many people in their homes. The flood waters even knocked down trees and tore the road up, spreading debris everywhere. There are large deposites of gravel from roads in people’s lawns. Here are two videos and a gallery of photos of what happened, both during and after the event.
This first video has terrible quality, but the 2nd is in HD. However, the craziness is enough to upload this video anyway.
Here is the 2nd video, day 2 of flooding.
And lastly, here is the photo gallery of flooding and damages. one of the videos shows the flooding in the grass, with the creek at its normal size in the background.
I hope everyone is safe, and if you would like to submit more photos please do! I will be setting up a new photo gallery for this event, and any and all photos of it are welcome! Just send them via email to keltonhalbert@tempestchasing.com
People in my neighborhood have already started the process of cleaning up. Though we didn’t get it as bad, there is still work to be done. I find it excruciatingly sad to read friends of mine saying stuff like, “Historic. There is nothing historic about this. New records don’t matter. Coming over a hill to see my town deadened and drowned does. How long to heal?”
So it looks like Tennessee will recover… eventually. Some people I know are in good spirits, saying things like “Welcome to Atlantis, formerly Nashville Tennessee!”, and others not so much. Keep your prayers with the people of Tennessee, they need them.
