The Incredible Nashville Flood

I arrived in Nashville Saturday afternoon in the midst of an overwhelming downpour.  When I left Monteagle, the weather was clear, but our daughter Marci told me that it had been raining since 5 am in Nashville.  The rain didn't really get heavy until I passed through Murfreesboro on I-24.

What followed was just unbelievable.  My first stop was at Julie's house, which is on a ridge in Bellevue overlooking the Harpeth River.  As I drove along Highway 70 at about 1:30 pm, the water rushing off the bluff just below Julie's house resembled Fall Creek Falls.  Water was already running across the highway in an amount sufficient to cause hydroplaning unless I proceeded very cautiously.

Julie and I were working on a Camp OFA training which we had planned for the next afternoon, and decided to go to downtown Nashville to set up our meeting space.  The rain and storms continued all afternoon.  When we left downtown at 5:30 pm, the rain had not let up at all, and as we traveled west on Charlotte Pike, we observed several areas where the Harpeth was already out of its banks and a few homes whose driveways were completely submerged.

I arrived at Marci and Ryan's at about 6:30.  They had planned to go out to dinner while I babysat with Malenda - always fun!!  The rain continued to fall at a very rapid pace.  By 10 pm Saturday night, 13 inches of rain had already fallen in Bellevue.  We knew that the Harpeth would probably flood part of their neighborhood, particularly the river walk beside the river.  In fact, as I drove beside the river on Highway 70, I thought I could see parts of the river walk which was already under water.

The rain did not stop all night and when we woke Sunday morning, we began to think that this was going to be a very serious threat of flooding.  Our OFA training was to start at 2 pm.  Already the Mayor's office was urging folks to stay home, but Julie and I decided we would head downtown just in case some of the 50 people who had signed up for the event were able to get there.  At about 10:30 am, I drove over to pick Julie up and only got as far as Highway 70 and McCrory Lane when I realized that Highway 70 was completely under water, flooded by the raging Harpeth River.  The bridge over the Harpeth was barely 6 inches above the water and I began to be concerned that I could even get back across the bridge.  To say I was frightened is a massive understatement.

At this point, it really hit me that this was going to be a disaster.  We decided to cancel the training - it was not going to be safe for anyone to travel.  This was already a disaster, but it wasn't over.  The rain continued to fall in torrential amounts.  By the time I got back to Marci and Ryan's house, the power was off and it is still off as I write this post.  We later found out that the power substation in Bellevue was completely under water.

As I made calls to those in Nashville who had signed up to attend the training, I heard stories of flooding all over Nashville.  Antioch, east of Nashville, was particularly hard hit with I-24 completely flooded at Bell Road and 1 death reported there on Saturday.  Cars were floating like toy boats.

The worst was yet to come for Bellevue.  From our second story window, we watched as the water rose above the houses one street away from us.  When the rain finally slowed to a drizzle, we went out to survey the situation.  The pictures in this post were made on late Sunday afternoon.  The water was within 9 houses of us - just a heartbreaking sight.  There are so many young families in this neighborhood, many in their first homes.  Many of these homes were flooded with 4 to 5 feet of water - truly devastating.  Police were going door to door doing house checks for people who might be stranded.

Ryan managed to prepare a delicious meal on the grill.   We opened several bottles of wine and lit our candles.  Fortunately, the night was cool and we slept well - except for Marci who was up at midnight walking down the street to confirm that the water wasn't reaching us.  Because Malenda has so many battery-powered toys, there were plenty of batteries for the radio, so we were able to stay informed about road closings and emergency evacuations.

There were neighbors who were out Saturday night and were not able to get back into the neighborhood.  By 8 am Sunday morning, I-40 was closed in both directions.  There were reports of trees down and flooding across the Bellevue and Old Hickory Blvd. exits to the east, and more flooding on I-40 heading west to Memphis.  All together,  60 miles of I-40 were closed.  At this point, we knew were weren't leaving for a while.  It was as if we were stranded on an island with no boat.

This morning (Monday), I took Malenda out for a walk at about 8:30.  Neighbors were walking up and down the sidewalks talking to each other.  One woman had the gas grill out on her driveway boiling water for coffee and tea and boiling eggs.  Others were grilling breakfast.  No one could get out of the neighborhood to go to work, so neighbors really had time to spend with each other and talk without hurrying to the next event or chore.  This was really quite a comfort in a challenging situation like this.

Today was beautiful - blue skies, broken clouds and NO RAIN!  The media helicopters were circling for most of the day.  I'm sure it must have been quite a view from their vantage point.  We couldn't see their footage, of course, without power to turn on our televisions.

The water had receded quite a lot.  However the entrance to the river walk was completely blocked by the flood water.  There were still parts of the neighborhood that were flooded, but now those areas were 2 blocks away.

The ongoing threat now is in downtown Nashville where the Cumberland River is cresting tonight at 52.9 feet.  Flood stage is 40 feet.  As the Harpeth flows into the Cumberland, the flooding will move there.  Buildings on 1st and 2nd avenue are evacuated, public transportation is shut down, and many downtown sites are threatened.  Opryland Hotel was evacuated last night and is under 6 feet of water.  The Tennessee Titan's stadium, LP Field, is flooded.

The worry now is for water supply.  One of the two water treatment plants is already closed and residents have been asked to cut their consumption by half.

We have evacuated to the Cool Springs area in Franklin where we have power - lights, internet access and air conditioning.  We were able to save the frozen food and it is safely tucked away in the freezer section of our Residence Inn suite.  Malenda is sound asleep and we are very safe and secure.

To add to the surreal events of the last 48 hours, we had pizza at Pie in the Sky tonight in Cool Springs.  While waiting for our pizza, we looked up and saw Scott Hamilton, Olympic figure skater, walk in with his family.  If that wasn't exciting enough, shortly following him was Brad Paisley, Kimberly Williams and Sheryl Crow and their families - a stunning ending to an equally stunning few days.