Nashville Flood of 2010 happened the first weekend of May 2010

Nashville Flood of 2010 Happened the First Weekend of May 2010
Devastating! Totally unexpected! Life Threatening! The flooding of parts of the area of Nashville, TN and surrounding counties, untold damage, loss of life, and property, businesses forced to close, their workers unable to work and earn a paycheck due to the Nashville Flood of 2010.

From the severe thunderstorm warnings and tornado watches with torrential downpours in the Middle Tennessee area on Saturday to the steady continuation of thunderstorms and tornado warnings and never-ending rainfall on Sunday, came what is now being called the Nashville Flood of 2010.

From the Nashville newspaper, Tne Tennessean.com comes this headline:
Gov. Bredesen asks Obama for flood recovery help, death toll rises again (1)

Amid heroic and valiant rescue efforts 6 deaths occur in the Metro Nashville Davidson County, Tennessee area, total death count at one point was 12 for the Midstate area. (see later figures).

On Sunday it was said that over 40,000 homes were without power, the number said by Monday night to be 14,000 people still without power on Day 3 of the historic Nashville Flood. of 2010.

Local Nashville Belmont University, along with the government of Metro Nashville/Davidson County had established a Joint Information Center and held a press conference today, (May 3) with Dr Jesse Register, Superintendent of Metro Nashville Schools, the Governor of Tennessee, Phil Bredesen ,the Nashville/Davidson County Mayor Karl Dean and Dr. Bill Paul of the Metro Nashville Health Department.

Historic downtown district of Nashville has been innundated by floodwaters as the water from the Cumberland River continues to rise.
There was the announcement that of 2 water plants, 1 is submerged, and the other is threatened; water is safe to drink at the moment, according to Mayor Karl Dean, but should be used for drinking and food preparation only.
Dr. Bill Paul of the Metro Health Department asked that everyone decrease water usage by at least 1/2.
Dr.Jesse Register, Superintendent of Metro Nashville Schools said that 23 school reported damages in Metro Nashville.

The Juvenile Justice Center has received damage from the flooding; MTA busses and trains out of commission and LP Field, home of the Tennessee Titans Football franchise has been flooded.

The Gaylord Hotel at Opryland was flooded along with the Opry Mills Shopping Center, with the entire area being shown to be underwater from air surveys.

Even some of the local Nashville TV stations were impacted, Fox 17 is in an area that had been evacuated (MetroCenter) and employees are at work by choice there.

News Channel 5 experienced a flood and did have to move their newsroom.

One reporter said that West and middle Tennessee were drenched, and that rescue crews are still doing water rescues.

Monday was sunny, the rain having ended on Sunday, late in the afternoon.

Governor Bredesen said the biggest request is for water, due to contaimination of drinking water. He also said there will have to be damage assessment, and looks for quite a bit of infrastructure damage, along with road damage.

The public was asked by Mayor Dean to 'stay home if you can'.

All the Metro schools are closed and 3 shelters open in the city, people at Opryland Hotel were evacuated and sent to a local high school.

The Cumberland River crested at noon at 51.5 feet. (May 3)

The Metro Nashville Fire Department in one case had to put a rope across rising water and evacuate people with an air mattess as not enough boats were available for use in resue operations.

One man said,' I lost everything, my car, my tools, everything.'

One man was trapped on a roof more than 5 hours before help arrived.

In addition to the Cumberland River, the Harpeth river is rising in neighboring Williamson County, Franklin TN.

Many, many cars and trucks, indluging tractor trailers have been damaged in the flooding, Many car dealership have lost cars due to the flooding.

This flood has been said by many people to be' the worst ever seen this area.'

In one area, a transformer blew and a massive fireball exploded from the transformer. In one area, there was a house fire, the house was surrounded by water and we could see the view brought to us by the news helicopter, but fire crews could not access the house fire to fight it, because all of the house was surrounded by water, no passable roads in sight.

The historic Farmer's Market now looks like a lake. It is closed until further notice.Most vendors there lost everything.

One TV weatherman said 'catastrophic, 500 year flood, historic devastation'.

As of late Sunday, the worst of the weather is gone from the Nashville, Middle Tennessee area after receiving almost 15 inches of rain in the Nashville area, more in some places.

Nashville had 7.25 inches on Sunday; the previous record 6.60 on 9/13/1979, after Hurricane Frederick. This rainfall also set a 2 day record 13.57 inches.

One reporter on Fox 17 (2) called it 'an epic level event' with severe weather, flooding, tornados, high winds

News Channe l5 (3) says some of Nashville's most famous landmarks under water; days of devastation, Cumberland River floods the midstate area and (by Monday night) 16 folks dead, Cumberland River is climbing over it's banks.

The Governor of Tennessee calls it a 'major event',

Reports now say the Cumberland River should be below flood stage by 9 pm tuesday night, with mainly clear skies overnight and in the morning.

One reporter said that near the river, it's 'watch and wait', and 'few have seen anything like it'. and the way we look at nashville has changed forever'.

It's been record breaking Cumberland River levels, so many business have been flooded and closed, many hotels evacuated. Among the damaged are the Symphony Center and the Country Music Hall of Fame has sandbags to try to prevent flooding of the building.

At LP Field, flooding is inside and on the field, all the way into the stadium.

The Market Street apartments had 6 feet of water, the complex's residents are now homeless.

Water has flooded into basements of many of the downtown Nashville businesses and Bridgestone Arena had to shut down because of the flood waters.
Davidson County Sheriff's Department has put inmates to work filling sandbags, and it was said the inmates had volunteered to do the job.

There are 3 waterways to worry about in Cheatham County, Ashland City area, close to Nashville and a curfew has been put into place. The waterways are:

Cumberland River
Harpeth River
and
Sycamore creek

It was said that Cheatham county had more than 40 roads closed down; schools closed unti Monday and residents have been asked to be patient and calm.

News Channel 4, (4) said that only 2 terminals operating for gas for fuel haulers, truckdrivers waiting and can't get fuel to haul to service stations, so some stations are running out of gas.

Metro Nashville high school graduations are on schedule at this point.

Many sightseers are taking taxi's downtown to see the flooding water..

The forecast is for 84 degrees tomorrow

News Channel 2 (5) shows LP Field, surrounded by floodwaters, and says that Coach Jeff Fisher thinks it will be okay once it gets pumped out.

Up Broadway, flooding downtown, probably about knee deep, trying to pump water out of the businesses and from the basements, up to 4th avenue, honky tonks open, while a street or so from there is totally under water.

Schemmerhorn Symphony Center has a water filled basement, ruined instruments, and they have lost organ consoles, with concert grand pianos under water.

Bridgestone Arena has 4 feet of water in basement, home of the Nashville Predators Hockey Team.

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References:
(1) Tennessean.com; May 3,2010
http://www.tennessean.com/

(2) Fox 17 TV in Nashville, news report, 9 pm, May 3, 2010

(3) News Channel 5 TV in Nashville news report, 10 pm, May 3, 2010

(4) News Channel 4 TV in Nashville, news report, 10 pm, May 3, 2010

(6) News Channel 2 TV in Nashville, news report, 10 pm, May 3, 2010