They're Trying To Wash Us Away

Not about Jihad. Not about Times Square. Not about Islam or The Gulf Spill or Global warming.

Just a bit about how they are weathering in Tennessee.

I got the following communique from a regular reader (whom I won't reveal unless they say it's okay).

The disaster from the recent rains has been historic, if not epic.

The government isn't there to help, yet. The situation is, as you've probably heard, very bad.

SO THEY ARE TAKING CARE OF EACH OTHER.

Ain 't that America?

the note:

I just wanted you to know we are doing alright here in Tennessee. My neighborhood is surrounded by the Cumberland river and right now we are completely cut off from town, but that's ok, we prepared early. We always have plenty of food in the house, with a teenage football son still at home, that part is pretty much manditory.

I know there's not much coverage in the news, but this has been a flood of historical proportions. We broke all rainfall records this weekend, with 13-20 inches of rain in less than 24 hours. My town is at the confluence of the Red and Cumberland rivers and as you can imagine the damage is catastrophic.

It is devastating to see places I've shopped and frequented for years standing under 15 or more feet of water. I am so sorry for those good people who owned and lost their small businesses, many of them I've known for years.

But, the most important thing I want you to know--and if you feel so inclined to post on your website---is we are pulling together here in our neck of the woods. We are watching out for our neighbors and making sure they are alright. Civilians are using their beloved bass boats(fishin' boats out here) to rescue their neighbors, making trip after trip, inspite of the raging torrents of water on what used to be streets.

I can't help but compare our reaction to the reaction after Katrina. I know our governor declared a disaster this weekend, but as of today I haven't heard any reaction from the federal gov't. I'm not sure how long that stuff takes and I know Dear Leader is so very busy doing what ever he does, but we will hang in there. But, it's going to be a long haul.

Personally, I live less than 1/4 of a mile from the Cumberland and the road into my neighborhood is closed because the river has reached it---and the river isn't expected to crest for a few more hours. But, we will be alright, I have my family, my Bible, my dogs, and my 12 gauge Mossberg and you know what bitter clinger I am already. :)

updated email: Yay, good news, my husband told me the rivers did crest already--early this morning the Red river crested at 49.48 feet--flood stage is 30 ft and the Cumberland crested at 63 feet and thats 15 feet above flood stage. But, very good news the rivers are going down--as long as they don't start releasing massive amounts of water upstream :)

from their local news:

Woman Dies In Montgomery County Monday Night

POSTED: 5:47 am CDT May 4, 2010
UPDATED: 11:50 am CDT May 4, 2010

CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. -- Rescuers feared even more bodies would emerge as muddy flood waters ebb from torrential weekend rains that swamped Nashville, much of Tennessee and two neighboring states, leaving at least 29 dead.

The devastating flood waters that hit much of the mid-state claimed a life in Montgomery County Monday night.

At about 9 p.m., police said a woman in her early 60s was driving along Palmyra Road in Clarksville when her car somehow ended up in the rising floodwaters.

Rescue crews tied a rope to her vehicle and pulled it out of the water. Once the car was out of the water, rescue officials broke the driver's side window and pulled the woman out.

She was taken by LifeFlight helicopter to Gateway Medical Center, where she died.

Investigators still aren't sure if the woman was swept into the floodwaters or if she drove off the pavement into them.

Her identity has not been released. This is the first flood-related death in Montgomery County.

There are now 18 confirmed flooding deaths in middle Tennessee, including 10 in Nashville.

Areas Of Downtown Without Power

The Cumberland River that has submerged parts of Nashville's historic downtown was expected to start receding Tuesday after being swollen by flash floods in creeks that feed into it.

Residents and authorities know they'll find widespread property damage in inundated areas, but dread even more devastating discoveries.

"Those in houses that have been flooded and some of those more remote areas, do we suspect we will find more people? Probably so," Nashville Fire Chief Kim Lawson said. "We certainly hope that it's not a large number."

Businesses along Nashville's riverfront lost electricity early Tuesday. Laurie Parker, a spokeswoman for Nashville Electric Service, said a main circuit failed before dawn, knocking out power to many downtown businesses, including the 33-story AT&T Building and a Hilton hotel.

The flooding also prompted election officials to delay the city's local primary, which had been set for Tuesday.

Restaurant and bars clustered on a downtown street remained closed because of the power outage. Bar manager Susan Zoesch said the closure would be hardest on servers who rely on tips.

"We're trying to figure out what we can do for them if we're going to be shut down for s while," Zoesch said.

Andy Mason, the concierge at a high-rise building of condominiums, said he was been advising residents to leave the 330-unit building because power wasn't expected to be restored for three days.

Thousands of people fled rising water and hundreds were rescued, but bodies were recovered Monday from homes, a yard, even a wooded area outside a Nashville supermarket. By Monday night, the rapidly rising waters were blamed in the deaths of 18 people in Tennessee alone, including 10 in Nashville.

The weekend storms also killed six people in Mississippi and four in Kentucky, including one man whose truck ran off the road and into a flooded creek. One person was killed by a tornado in western Tennessee.

In Nashville, the Cumberland also deluged some of the city's most important revenue sources: the Gaylord Opryland Hotel and Convention Center, whose 1,500 guests were whisked to a shelter; the adjacent Opry Mills Mall; even the Grand Ole Opry House, considered by many to be the heart of country music.

Floodwaters also edged into areas of downtown, damaging the Country Music Hall of Fame, LP Field where the Tennessee Titans play and the Bridgestone Arena, home to the NHL's Nashville Predators and one of the city's main concert venues.

Carly Horvat, 29, lives in a downtown condo and ventured out with a few friends to look at damage Monday night.

"I have never heard the city so quiet," Horvat said. "Usually, you hear whooping and hollering from Broadway."

Damage estimates range into the tens of millions of dollars. Gov. Phil Bredesen declared 52 of Tennessee's 95 counties disaster areas after finishing an aerial tour from Nashville to western Tennessee during which he saw flooding so extensive that treetops looked like islands.

The severity of the storms caught everyone off guard. More than 13.5 inches of rainfall were recorded Saturday and Sunday, according to the National Weather Service, making for a new two-day record that doubled the previous mark.

Dramatic rescues continued into Monday as water crept into areas that had remained safe during weekend downpours.

Authorities and volunteers in fishing boats, an amphibious tour bus and a canoe scooped up about 500 trapped vacationers at the Wyndham Resort along the river near Opryland. Rescuers had to steer through a maze of underwater hazards, including submerged cars, some with tops barely visible above floodwaters the color of milk chocolate.

Bill Crousser was riding his Jet Ski past a neighbor's house when he rescued a man, his wife and their dog moments before flames from a fire in the garage broke through the roof.

"We just got the hell out of there," Crousser said.

The water swelled most of the area's lakes, minor rivers, creeks, streams and drainage systems far beyond capacity. It flowed with such force that bridges were washed out and thousands of homes were damaged. Much of that water then drained into the Cumberland, which snakes through Nashville.

The Cumberland topped out around 6 p.m. Monday at 51.9 feet, about 12 feet above flood stage and the highest it's reached since 1937. It began to recede just in time to spare the city's only remaining water treatment plant.

Still, about 50 Nashville schools were damaged and floodwaters submerged hundreds of homes in the Bellevue suburb alone, including Lisa Blackmon's. She escaped with her dog and her car but feared she lost everything else.

"I know God doesn't give us more than we can take," said Blackmon, 45, who lost her job at a trucking company in December. "But I'm at my breaking point."

Evacuations encouraged in
Stewart County as river rises

Cumberland expected to rise two more feet in
two days

By BONNIE LILL • The Stewart Houston Times •
May 4, 2010

A CodeRED alert went out just a few minutes ago to Stewart County residents asking them to evacuate their homes if necessary and offering them the help to do it and get set up in a shelter.
The number to call is 931-232-3014.

This came as a result of the news from Corps of Engineers officer Jeff Hancock that the Cumberland River is expected to rise another two feet in the next two days.

He said this at a meeting of emergency officials at the Emergency Operations Center in Dover.
According to Stewart County Roads supervisor Jerry Cunningham, this would impact a number of residents in low-lying areas. He stressed the need for residents to assess their situations and call for help getting out - during the dayllight hours - if they need to leave.

The EOC was buzzing as personnel, many of them volunteers, arranged for loads of sands and
sandbags, as well as personnel to help fill them.

Dover City Administrator Jeff Knott reported that the Dover water plant, struggling to properly process the volumes of water coming in, had made some progress overnight, thanks in part to voluntary water conservation and the absence of children in the schools. He stressed that conservation needs to be continued in order for the water plant to keep up. He said that the bottled water coming from the Pepsi Co. could be diverted to others who need it more.

Stewart County Emergency Management Agency Director Clint Mathis said that the Erin water plant was down, impacting Cumberland City. Since Dover was not yet in the position to supply water Cumberland City, the 5,000 gallons of water from TEMA would be sent to Cumberland City, and Mathis arranged to have the Pepsi water sent to Erin.

Richard Jenkins of the U.S. Forest Service was on hand to offer his assistance; he encouraged those present to look farther than they are accustomed to looking in order to find things that they needed, such as sand, barricades, water, etc.

He said that while almost all facilities in LBL are closing due to the flooding, Brandon Springs Group Camp should not be impacted and it should be available for use as a shelter.