of all the places i’ve lived in my life, nashville is home. it will always be home, always be a safe place to return to. and right now, my home needs our help.
the community with which i shared six years of my life is suffering. by now, most of you will have read stories of record rainfall, biblical flooding, underwater landmarks, giant carp fished out of the waters with bare hands. however, national news organizations have been shit about properly covering the actual story. underneath the headlines about an almost-car-bombing and a disastrous oil spill, you’ll likely see some photos of a flooded downtown, an updated death toll, and statistics without context. what is missing from those stories is the urgent need for assistance. now.
here are some things you may not know: one of two water treatment plants were destroyed, leaving a very real threat of running out of potable water. roads are completely washed out. entire neighborhoods are underwater. parents have been washed away trying to save their children. old married couples, en route to church, drowned, only to be found behind a grocery store the next day. as a nashville blogger wrote yesterday:
The Cumberland River crested at its highest level in over 80 years. Nashville had its highest rainfall totals since records began. People drowned. Billions of dollars in damage occurred. It is the single largest disaster to hit Middle Tennessee since the Civil War. And yet…no one knows about it.
my home needs our help. will you spread the word? if you can, text ‘REDCROSS’ to 90999 to donate $10 to disaster relief.
to read more of the real story, visit the tennessean, nashville’s local newspaper.
ETA: nashvillians, please feel free to tell your stories in the comments.
Jesus. I had read the stories but I hadn’t clicked through to see the pictures until now. I couldn’t deal with both the Gulf (what I consider MY home) AND Nashville. So sad. Thanks for posting. We’ll be making a donation…
today i help a friend of mine and kevin’s demo their home. it is down to the studs. they lost EVERYTHING and she is preggers with their first baby. it is incredibly humbling.
we miss you and love you (and h & j)!!
xoxoxoxo
I was actually in Nashville this past weekend when the storm hit. It was wildness, very chaotic, and it was before everything got too bad. The roads were all covered in water just a matters of a few hours and people were crashing all over the place. And that was just a glimpse. All my thoughts and prayers go out to those there and all those like myself who love it. Thanks for posting this so everyone can see what is actually happening there even if the news media is trying to ignore it.
I live just north of Nashville near a small town called Ridgetop. We had no damage other than a very messed-up driveway (no biggie!). But those of you who are familiar with Nashville? You will no longer recognize the sites you hold dear. Opryland Hotel? Gone. Even convenient Briley Parkway, a smooth way to avoid downtown? Flooded. And please be aware that Nashville is not the only place that was deluged. Clarksville (to the northwest of Nashville)? “Riverside” Drive has water all the way up to the walkway above the lanes of traffic! Hickman County, down I-40 to the west of Nashville? There are STILL people trapped in their homes there and still without power. I am still astounded by what happened to us. If you possibly can, please send a donation to Red Cross–and ask that it be sent to Middle Tennessee flood victims. Thank you; thank you.
hey dear,
i’ve got a piece here on a friend’s site that includes some thoughts on this past week’s events:
like you, i love the place, it’s home and i’m not there. some thoughts about embodied hope.
c,xo
Thanks for helping to get the word out, it is pretty bad here. I’ve posted some organizations that are helping locally on my blog here.
http://theabsurdityofnormality.blogspot.com/
We’ll take all the help we can get.
Still bizarre. Still taking our laundry to a different county to be washed. We were incredibly lucky. Just a little basement water and a leak in our bedroom ceiling. My aunt got caught on I-24 when Mill Creek flooded onto the interstate. She’s arthritic and large and couldn’t get out of her car. The water was up to her neck before two brave, young men rescued her. Cars were just floating down the interstate.
A girl in my daughter’s class was evacuated and when they returned many days later, they’d lost everything. Can you imagine being nine (with a five-year-old sister) and losing all your clothes, all your toys, all your everything? Single mom raising two girls. The other families at the school have already donated all the furniture, household goods, clothes, etc. they need. But nothing can replace pictures, etc.
My daughter’s best friend had her bedroom in a finished basement along with her sister and brother. The basement flooded. Floating carpet, toys, etc. But the family saw when it started to happen and they didn’t lose too much. Just all their bedrooms until it can be rebuilt.
David’s cousin and his family were evacuated and they returned to water damage from a foot of water through the bottom floor of their house. Another cousin was stranded for several days in a neighborhood that became like a little island.
BUT you wouldn’t believe what AMAZING attitudes people have! I have been humbled and inspired. It’s TRULY remarkable.
Oh – and one of David’s co-workers made it through the flood without damage, but then on Monday, the dam had to release water to prevent it from bursting, and THEN, the water released from the dam overflowed near her house and she lost everything. Her response? She said she was wanting to redecorate anyway.