After the Flood

Project 15 - Day 56

If you have been following along for the past few days you know that we have been making our way northward from south Florida to Nashville, TN. Once the rain began last weekend the focus of our trip changed from dock repair to flood clean-up. C & J live in Bellevue, which is a southwestern suburb of Nashville. This particular area was hit very hard as a result of the unprecedented rainfall. Fortunately C & J sustained minor damage, mostly due to C's hard work over the weekend. He vacuumed over 100 gallons of water out of their finished basement during the two day ordeal keeping pace with the rising water. The rest of the time was spent watching the ever expanding river flowing through their back yard.

While it was more than a little overwhelming for them during the first few days, by the time we arrived on Tuesday carpet and padding had been pulled back and several fans were whirring away in an effort to dry things out. On Friday C declared the basement dry. Carpet and furnishings were drug back to their rightful places and everyone breathed a big sigh of relief. They will keep a close watch for mold in the next few weeks but for now all is right in their corner of Bellevue, not so much just 3 short streets away.

I don't have pictures to share of most of the devastation we have witnessed, block after block of once beautiful homes submerged to their rooftops in murky river water. It was a heart breaking sight and oh so close. Young families have lost everything. For most of these people there is no flood insurance. They were told they did not live in a flood plain. Traditional home owners insurance does not cover this type of damage. And while I understand living with the fear of this type of devastation I can't begin to imagine the reality of it.

I don't have pictures because I couldn't do it. There is just something wrong about photographing a stranger's dispair. I do however have a few photos taken from the car window as we made our way west towards Mt. Juliette and our lot on Old Hickory Lake. We weren't certain what we would find once we arrived but we needed a look see.

The first photo is Percy Priest Dam. Under normal conditions the river below the dam is about 20 or 30 feet lower than this and water trickles out in a less forceful fashion keeping water levels on both sides of the dam at near constant levels.

This home was spotted en route to the lake. I have marked the high water line in yellow. This was taken on Wednesday, 3 days after the rain subsided.

We found Old Hickory Lake to be much higher than normal, but not nearly as high as we expected. It seems life on the lake side of the dam was much easier than the down river side.

The fallen retaining wall is located at the house next door to our lot. I think they were fortunate the house didn't follow.

From this vantage point the only clue to what took place here last weekend is the muddy water.

Nashville has faced adversity this week but its residents are resilient and they will survive. For most things have already assumed a certain degree of normalcy, but one thing is certain, no one alive today will ever forget the great flood of 2010.