Our big plan for Saturday was to go to Beechbend Park, a small amusement park about an hour away in Kentucky. However, when I woke up on Saturday morning, I knew we would not be going to an amusement park: it was raining harder than I have ever seen it rain. We changed plans and set off for the aquarium in Chattanooga. After about half an hour of driving through pounding rain and hydroplaning ever so often, my dad gave up and said we couldn't go any further. Luckily, we were in Murfreesboro where there is a really neat children's museum, so we went there, got some lunch at T.G.I. Friday's and then headed back to Nashville to go to the Opryland Hotel.
It was still raining.
It was a torrential downpour.
After we left the hotel, my sister started getting text messages from her friends saying that Franklin was flooding. I admit, I thought they were exaggerating... until traffic slowed down and I looked out the window to see a pasture covered in raging brown water. The other side of the interstate was closed because there was water covering all lanes. Have you seen this video? That was a few hours after we got off the interstate. At that exit.
We still didn't think it was serious when we got home. My mom had an email from their HOA telling everyone to head over to the clubhouse to see "quite a sight", so we went over. The Harpeth river is about 400 yards away from the clubhouse, but when we got there it was lapping at the clubhouse steps. In fact, it moved up at least five feet in the half hour that we were there.
At this point, it had been pouring for about 12 hours.
Later that night, we got word that houses in my parents development were flooding, so Jason and my dad and brothers set off to help however they could. They waded through waist deep water to a neighbor's house, where they moved all the furniture on the ground floor up to the second floor where it would be safe.
While they were gone, the tornado sirens started going off. My mom and I stood in their doorway and watched fire truck after fire truck, National Guard vehicle after National Guard vehicle, and rescue boat after rescue boat roar by, listening to the pounding rain and wailing sirens. We later found out that the National Guard was evacuating people from their flooded houses and one of the houses in their neighborhood had been struck by lightning and burned to the ground.
Sunday, the rain continued. The water moved higher and higher; more houses in the neighborhood flooded. The bridge near my parents' house closed because the water rose high enough to cover it. The river is usually about 20 feet below the bridge and road. The mayor imposed a 6:00 curfew and more deaths were reported. We spent the afternoon moving more furniture in threatened houses and worrying about my parents' house. Ok, I think I was the only one who was really worried, and the water never really got near it, so it was unfounded. But seeing how far the water had spread--several streets away from the river--was truly humbling and scary.
This is long enough without pictures, but if you're interested, here is a link to a Facebook group with lots.
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