The Big Flood

All week the weather reports had been for heavy rain, but Friday night was beautiful. We took the girls to a Family Fun Night at BGA (Mary Clare's school) and it was a gorgeous evening. During the night it started to rain and we knew it would rain all day, so we decided to take the girls to Nashville for lunch. We were at Opry Mills (near the airport) and evidently missed tornado warnings and the beginnings of flooding south of us back home in Franklin. We left Nashville around 3 pm and stopped in downtown Nashville to pick up Roger's car. He was behind the girls and I. As we got closer to Franklin the rain was really coming down and we saw several accidents. At one point I saw a big truck stuck in water getting washed off the road. The driver and passenger looked terrified -- an emergency truck pulled up behind them and I assume they were safe. When we got to the Cool Springs Mall exit I suddently noticed all the 18-wheelers began to pull over to the far right. I thought maybe there was an accident and decided to follow their lead and hang back to see what was going on. I couldn't believe it - -the interstate was under water!! I was able to get over and using my phone and Facebook posts was able to get home eventually. Major roads were closed though and it was a little nervewracking. It continued to pour all night long - around 10 pm the tornado sirens rang out again so we set up the girls with sleeping bags on the floor in the basement. I think they loved it - and Dylan and Lou (our dog and cat) loved the company!

This morning we woke up to even more rain and unbelievable pictures on the tv. Downtown Franklin is surrounded by water. The Harpeth River forms a horseshoe and the city is inside the curve. Our neighborhood is on one side of the horseshoe, downtown is in the middle, and Mary Clare's school is on the otherside. All of this is within only a mile or less -- approxiately 10 blocks. Our house is on the corner of 10th Avenue -- the beginning of town is 1st Avenue. Luckily, the water stayed to the outside so Main Street is largely not directly flooded (although basements of homes and businesses are flooding). However, the streets behind us have been really effected and a few neighbors closer to downtown from our home were also flooded. To give you some idea of how much water we're talking about -- the river was measured at 6am on Saturday as: 3.97 ft. By this morning it was at 35.14 ft. !

This afternoon we took the girls for a short walk to get out of the house and take a quick look around.

This is our rain gauge - it overflowed several times. Tonight I heard an official rain tally of 15 inches, but I've seen some news folks say 18 inches in Franklin! These pictures show our neighborhood.






The pictures of our neighbors homes are heartbreaking -- these houses are between us and downtown -- just a dozen houses away.

These last two pictures show Mary Clare's school which is on the otherside of downtown Franklin. The white picket fence is the center of the circle where I pick her up each day And the last picture shows the playground. She obviously has no school tomorrow. We need to cross a bridge to get to her school and reports are that it has buckled and is under water.

At our house we are completely fine. However, it is truly heartbreaking to watch the news and see whole subdivisions under water, people on their roofs, elderly people in boats being evacuated. It will be a long, long cleanup.