Nashville Flooding...3 Weeks Later

I'm sorry it's been a week since the last update. We're going on vacation later this week and I've been busy getting work done and getting things ready.

It's been 21 days now since my sister was forced out of her apartment. There is still no power to the building though the work goes on. She met with a representative from FEMA yesterday. Apparently she's eligible for some money from the government because she's been displaced. She was told she'd find out how much within 48 hours. Hopefully then by tomorrow she'll have a better idea. I think she'd just prefer to be back in her own home.

Don't know if you caught tonight's NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams. The "Making a Difference" segment focused on volunteers helping clean up in and around town. It looked like one of the groups shown was working in the River Plantation neighborhood we visited. I also saw several people wearing shirts from Service International. That's the group that Lipscomb is working with.

Today's picture is of the big sink hole that opened up on I-24 southeast of Nashville. You might have seen it on the news but you've not seen this particular shot. This was taken by David Pratt, a friend of mine shortly after it opened up. He was on his way to Orlando and got caught in the long back up on the interstate. I read in the paper the other day that it eventually grew to be 40 feet long and 20 feet deep. Fortunately there's been no significant rainfall in the last week or so.

Check out http://tennessean.com/ when you get a chance. On their main page they're now showing pictures of the cleanup. After seeing the shots of the Opry House and Opryland Hotel during the flood, it's pretty amazing to see the "after" pictures.

Nashville Flood...Now Mudslides

After the weekend rain they had, mudslides are a big problem. There are now homes being damaged that weren't even affected by the flood two weeks ago.

It's been two weeks now since my sister was displaced and there's still no report on when power will be restored to her building. The Codes Department will have to inspect it once the power is on.

I've sent emails to some friends in the area to find out what kind of damage they've suffered at their homes. Still haven't heard anything from many of them.

Here's a couple of more pictures. One is looking out of my sister's window toward the Pinnacle building. They were still pumping water from the basement Wednesday, eleven days after the flooding stopped. The other is from the Beech Bend subdivision near Bellevue.

Nashville Flooding...It's Raining Again

Local folks might know this but the rest of you may not. Nashville and the mid-state has been getting the one thing they don't need...rain. It's been raining pretty hard there since this afternoon. There are flash flood warnings posted. As if that's not bad enough, it's expected to continue off and on through the weekend. Of course you can't keep it from raining even though they probably don't want to think about getting anymore for a long, long time.

I didn't realize I hadn't told what my sister's name is until someone emailed to ask. It's Priscilla. This is the 13th night she's been out of her apartment. There still hasn't been any word given on the electrical inspection for her building. That's the first step needed before they can even think about when the second and third floor residents can return.

Today's pictures are another one from the River Plantation neighborhood. I've also posted one from the Red Cross shelter at Lipscomb. It's in what used to be McQuiddy Gym. It's now a part of the Student Activities Center next to the new Allen Arena. It's been home to 400 people for the past two weeks.

Nashville Flooding...Random Thoughts

This gives you an idea of what downtown looks like. Several of the streets south of lower Broadway are closed. There are semi trailers like this parked everywhere including on the grounds of the new symphony hall. All of them are with different disaster recovery and flood clean up companies. It's odd to see semi tankers filled with water parked on the sidewalks.

If you've not already found the websites, here are a few that will show you some incredible pictures from the time the flooding started until now.

www.tennessean.com They have several slide shows. On the main page, toward the middle right, look for the Pep Boys video link. Their security cameras caught the flooding of a store not far from downtown. If you think this water just crept in, you'll know differently after you watch it.

Websites for the Nashville TV stations also have slide shows available:
www.wkrn.com
www.wsmv.com
www.wtvf.com

I've had a few folks email me and call. I love it that they're wanting to know what else can be done. If you're not able to go over personally to volunteer, I can tell you that cleaning and building supplies along with water will continue to be needed for a while. I saw an announcement today that the city declared the water is 70% safe. They didn't say what you're supposed to do with the other 30% though! If you would like to donate money or gift cards to Lowe's or Home Depot, you can send them to the South Knoxville Church of Christ, 4604 Chapman Highway, Knoxville, TN 37920. Just mark it attention Nashville Flood Relief. One way or the other we'll make sure it gets to people that can use it. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Nashville Flooding...Continued

These pictures show what the River Plantation neighborhood looked like yesterday. These were taken on just one road in one neighborhood. It looks like this all over town. I've posted some information below for anyone that is interested in going over to help clean up, clean out and rebuild. I'll post more information as it becomes available. If you know of more agencies and contact points feel free to email me or post them in the comments section here below the post.


Lipscomb, Service International partner to recruit daily teams of flood clean-up volunteers

Leaders from Service International (SI), a non-profit disaster relief organization headquartered in Chesterfield, Mo., are partnering with Lipscomb University and several Nashville churches to provide clean-up efforts for residents whose homes have been damaged by the flood.

SI was founded in 1993 and has since provided disaster clean-up services around the world including during the 2005 Katrina clean up. Lipscomb will provide housing for what is expected to be more than 80 out-of-state SI-trained and experienced volunteer leaders.

No special training or professional skills are required to volunteer for clean-up through SI. At present, Lipscomb expects to host SI through June 5 offering additional volunteer opportunities to the community.

How to Volunteer

• At 8 a.m., come to Western Hills Church of Christ in Bellevue, 7565 Charlotte Pike, Nashville, TN 37209, or to Bellevue Church of Christ, 7401 Highway 70 South, Nashville, TN 37221.
  
• Every volunteer must sign a release form. These forms will be available at Western Hills Church of Christ this weekend or you can go to www.serviceinternational.org.
• Ages 16 and older can volunteer; however, anyone between the ages of 16 and 18 must be accompanied by a parent or guardian.
  
• Wear sturdy shoes, long pants (no shorts). Expect to get dirty!
  
• T-shirts and work gloves will be provided.
  
• A simple sack lunch will be provided.
  
• Transportation to the clean-up site will be provided.
  
• Crew chiefs will be assigned to each work site to give clear directions.
  
  

Nashville Flood...Market Street Apartments

This is what the front of my sister's building looks like now; at least part of it. The rest is taken up by work trucks and the appliances that were taken out of the first floor units.



The interior photo is of one of the first floor units. Notice the water still on the floor almost two weeks after the flood. Since the A/C isn't running and the sewer overflowed, I'll let you imagine what it smelled like.

Stay tuned. I'll add more images for you. I'm just glad I finally figured out how to add pictures to this site!

Nashville Flood Relief...Take 2

I don't know where to begin. It's amazing what a person can cram into one day sometimes. I'll probably break this up into several posts so I can keep my thoughts straight and make it easier to read. I wish everyone who donated items, money and gift cards, everyone who wished us well, thought and prayed for the people in Nashville (specifically my sister) could have been there. I wish you could have seen, heard and felt the gratitude. We told more than one person not to thank us; we were only the delivery service. The picture above shows what the back of our Ford looked like when we got to Market Street Apartments this morning.

A very large portion of the cleaning supplies, gloves, masks and bottled water went to the apartment complex. The building manager couldn't believe that people from three hours away were willing to donate to total strangers just because someone knew one person who lived in the building. The smell was unbelievable but they cleared a place in what used to be the office for us to unload.

We left downtown and headed south towards Lipscomb University. The Red Cross has a shelter there in the old gym which is now part of the Student Activity Center. They weren't able to use much of what we had but we met a lady from just up the street who could. She had a man working to clean her home who himself is homeless now. They took more cleaning supplies, personal care products, water and some food. She commented on how impressed she was with the support that churches have shown.

Next we headed to Bellevue which is one of the hardest hit areas. We drove through the River Plantation and Beech Bend neighborhoods. It was unbelievable to see the amount of trash in front of homes; basically everything that had been inside. Imagine everything that is in the first floor of your home laying in your yard including the walls. That's exactly what it is. It's just like the Mississippi Gulf coast was after Katrina.

We offered what we had to everyone we saw. Of course many people are working their jobs during the day and cleaning/repairing at night so we didn't see everyone. One poor older lady just asked if we had bleach. That's all she wanted even though we tried to offer more. One man only asked for hand sanitizer and felt bad because we gave him such a big bottle.

We also gave a lot of food and personal care items to a friend and co-worker of my sister's. It's a lady that she works with who lost everything including her home. Yolanda and her husband B. J. just moved into a guest house of the doctor she and my sister work for. As if this situation wasn't enough to deal with, Yolanda just found out she is pregnant.

It's getting late and it's been a long (but rewarding) day. I hope that summarizes things well for now. I'm working on getting contact information for anyone who wants to go over to assist in the clean up and rebuilding. A few of you have also asked me about sending more items and/or money. I'm working on getting that figured out as well. If you have any questions, most of you have my email. I'll try to answer as quickly as I can. I'll also post here and you can use the comment section under the posts. Thanks for caring!

Nashville Relief Part 1...It Started WIth A Phone Call

Everyone is aware of what took place in Nashville May 1-2. My sister lives downtown, between 1st and 2nd Avenues. We texted and talked several times over those two days. For the longest time she thought she'd ride out the storm in her apartment. She's on the third floor so there didn't seem to be any reason to worry.

On Sunday the 2nd, when water started flowing into her parking lot, she decided it was time to leave. It took her about an hour and a half to drive what is normally a twenty minute trip to a friend's house. It didn't seem like a huge inconvenience at the time. We thought she might be there for one, possibly two nights.

Tonight will be the tenth night she's been out of her home. There is still no electricity to her building. At least she has a home even if she can't get back into it yet. The people in the first floor of her building (along with thousands of others) have nothing. The picture above is her building.

So a few days ago I was wishing I had the time to take a trip over there; to help her and anyone else I know (or don't) when my phone rang. It was Montie Downs and if you know Montie you know she's going to make things happen and get things done. So there she was asking about my sister and whether she was affected. To make a long story not quite as long, as a result of that, John Downs and I loaded and I mean loaded our Expedition with everything from rubber gloves and masks to bottled water, food and cleaning supplies tonight.

Lisa and I are heading out tomorrow. We'll start at my sister's building and go from there. Many of you helped make it happen. Besides the Downs, Jody Miller deserves special praise for getting us to this point. Geoff Mabe did a great job of rallying folks to the cause. Then there's many of you, the ones that gave so much in items, money and gift cards.

Now obviously not all of this is going to my sister. I'm sure the bulk of it will go to the tenants and staff working on cleaning and fixing the first floor of the building. I can tell you the effort has already been appreciated.

I'll keep you posted so hopefully you'll check back from time to time. I hope to gather information tomorrow about helping rebuild homes in case anyone is interested. I'm sure this won't be the only trip from this area that myself or perhaps one of you will make to Nashville in the coming weeks. Keep collecting items! I'll post all relevant info here but you're free to email me as well. Thanks for your support.