10 Killed In Nashville From Historic Floods
Floods Close 1st To 5th Avenues Downtown; Thousands Evacuated From Homes
Below are the confirmed deaths that have occurred over the last two days in the following counties:
* Davidson County -- 10 water deaths
- The body of an elderly man was recovered late Monday afternoon in a wooded area behind Kroger on Harding Road near Belle Meade. His 65-year-old wife's body was recovered several hundred yards away. The couple was reportedly driving to church Sunday morning when their car was swept away by flood waters on Harding Road.
- Metro detectives were investigating Monday evening two additional suspected flood-related deaths. An unidentified man's body was recovered from standing water in the Indian Hills area of Bellevue. An elderly woman’s body was recovered from her River Plantation home.
- Robert Woods, 74, was swept away Sunday by floodwater in his West Hamilton Avenue yard. His body was recovered Monday.
- Joshua Lanotroop, 21, was swept away by floodwater Saturday in the area near Bell Road and Blue Hole Road. His body was recovered Sunday near the area.
- Andrew J. England, 78, and Martha England, 80, are believed to be victims of a flash flood. Their bodies were found Sunday in their Delray Drive home.
- Joseph Formosa, 88, and Bessie Formosa, 78, tried to drive across the flooded Sawyer Brown Road when their vehicle was swept away. Their bodies were found inside their flipped vehicle in standing water.
- Two men are missing after three men tied inner tubes together to raft on Mill Creek. The inner tubes separated near the Mill Creek Bridge. A 19-year-old was able to swim ashore, but the other two men are missing.
- A woman in her early 60s died Monday night after driving along Palmyra Road in Clarksville. Her car somehow ended up in the rising floodwaters.
The Cumberland River crested Monday night and is expected to recede by the end of the week, according to the Nashville mayor's office.The Cumberland flooded quickly after the weekend's storms dumped more than 13 inches of rain in Nashville over two days. That nearly doubled the previous record of 6.68 inches of rain that fell in the wake of Hurricane Fredrick in 1979.About 56 Nashville schools were damaged by either water or wind from the storms.The National Weather Service advised that major flooding is expected to continue along Cumberland River on Monday followed by a gradual decrease in water levels, and that homes in the area should be evacuated.Most of lower Broadway, including First and Second avenues, were closed by floodwater Monday. The Schermerhorn Symphony Center and numerous buildings downtown near the Cumberland River had lower-level flooding.Nashville's country music landmark The Grand Ole Opry House was also flooded.Heartland Christian Towers residents were moved to hotels or picked up by family members. The retirement home is on Fernbrook Lane off McGavock Pike in Nashville.Air 4 flew over a flooded home along Pennington Bend that was engulfed in flames Monday at 10:30 a.m."We are still in rescue mode at this time," said Kim Lawson, deputy chief of the Nashville Fire Department, during a Monday afternoon press conference.More than 7 inches of rain fell on Saturday and 13.53 inches had fallen by 8:30 p.m. Sunday, a new two-day record. Just two days into the month, May 2010 was declared already the wettest May in Nashville's recorded history and the fifth wettest month in city history. Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen called it an "unprecedented rain event."Mayor Karl Dean’s office has asked Nashville residents to conserve water.Parts of MetroCenter and residents and businesses near Mainstream Drive were evacuated.The guests at Opryland Hotel on Sunday were moved to McGavock High School and other hotels. Gaylord Entertainment, the owners of the hotel, confirmed that there was 6 feet of standing water inside the hotel.German tourists Gerdi and Kurt Bauerle, both 70, said resort staff suddenly started rushing people out of the area Sunday night."We had just finished eating and suddenly they said: 'Go! Go! Go!"' said Gerdi Bauerle, who was visiting from Munich. "And we said, 'Wait, we haven't even paid."'Officials in Tennessee said Sunday the flooding is as bad as they've seen since 1975 when water memorably inundated the old Opryland amusement park east of downtown Nashville. Even the state's own emergency operations center wasn't immune. It took up to a foot of water below a false floor, forcing officials to relocate to an auxiliary command center."I've never seen it this high," said emergency official Donnie Smith, who's lived in Nashville 45 years. "I'm sure that it's rained this hard at one time, but never for this much of an extended period."The Cumberland River had already reached record levels since an early 1960s flood control project was put in place.Authorities weren't taking any chances. They evacuated the downtown area and north Nashville where a leaky levee threatened residents and businesses."That is an astonishing amount of rain in a 24- or 36-hour period," Bredesen said Sunday.In Montgomery County, 71 people had been rescued as of 11:30 a.m. Monday. The two neighborhoods that have seen worst damage are North Woodstock and Kingsbury Drive. Those residents went to a shelter at Hilldale Baptist Church on Madison Street.County spokeswoman Elizabeth Black said the water supply is fine but that the county is asking people to limit water use. She also said Monday that there was no imminent concern about the Cheatham Dam, which has been releasing water since the weekend because of overflowing.Hickman County Sheriff Randal Ward said there were more than 200 rescues Monday. Most of the county still has no cell service, power or water. The western part of county, such as the Pleasantville area, was hit the worst, Ward said. The Duck River Bridge in Centerville is still blocked off.Hickman County is asking its residents to boil water before using it because its water system is shut down and the water could be contaminated. The county is working to get money from the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency for its shelters at Fairfield Church of Christ, Centerville Christ and Bon Aqua United Methodist.The Trousdale County Jail was evacuated, and people from that jail were transported to Wilson County.Kentucky Emergency Management officials said two deaths in Barren and Madison counties in central Kentucky were weather-related."This is going to go on for a while," Bredesen said. "It's going to take a while for the water to recede and us to get down into this. It's going to take several days for this to get back to anything near normal."The rain ended Sunday night but there will likely be weeks of cleanup for residents and public works employees alike. Though there was no official estimate, it was clear thousands of homes had been damaged or destroyed by flooding and tornadoes. Thousands of residents were displaced with some going to more than 20 shelters opened around Tennessee.Emily Petro, of the Red Cross in Nashville, said the agency was sheltering about 2,000 people across Tennessee -- about 1,200 of them in Nashville.The Red Cross has asked for people to donate nonperishable items.Hospitals, schools and state buildings also were flooded. Most universities in the Nashville area postponed final exams, though many state workers were expected to return to their jobs, if possible.The state's roads were in bad shape. The three major interstates in the Nashville area were closed over the weekend, though most reopened at the beginning of the week.Bredesen said more than 150 roads were closed in middle Tennessee alone with washouts and bridge damage destruction fairly common. Residents Rescued Sunday Night Lakeshore The Meadows nursing home residents were rescued Sunday evening along Coley Davis Road in west Nashville.Six hundred people had to be rescued from flood waters this weekend in Nashville.Both Lipscomb University and the Bellevue Jewish Community Center were opened to shelter flood victims but were soon at capacity.Bellevue Middle School opened to shelter victims, but they needed more cots, blankets and pillows. People slept in auditorium seats Sunday night.“We ended up having to go upstairs, probably got about 5 feet of water, 4 feet of water in the house,” said a man who was rescued Sunday afternoon by boat from his Bellevue home, where he’s lived for seven years. “And we were upstairs with seven grandchildren, took all our food up there, had lunch, played cards, read books and then came out that same window.”Mount Pleasant, Tenn., city manager Debbie McMullin said a water main broke somewhere in the city Sunday afternoon. Officials started looking for the problem at 4 p.m. but were unable to locate it. Residents are urged to boil water until future notice and conserve.About 12 to 15 inches of rain fell in Rutherford County over two days.LaVergne Mayor Ronnie Erwin took a Sunday morning tour of the most troublesome areas in the city. Several streets remain closed."There are a lot of other areas in bad shape, and we're trying to get people help quickly," said Erwin, who declared the city a disaster area.LaVergne resident James Hathcock saw water rushing toward his house and made a run for it."I had five grandkids here, and all of a sudden, it started coming up high, and I got all the kids, got in the car and got out of here," he said.A woman in Bellevue went into labor but couldn’t get out of her home, so a nearby nurse made her way through the water to get to the woman and safely deliver the baby.Amy Hubbuch, a child birth educator, helped deliver the girl. Baby Claire and the mother, who was due, are doing well."It was a house call. We haven’t done those in a long time," said Hubbuch, who delivered the baby by flashlight since there was no electricity. Click here for a full list of road closures in Nashville.Dean said Nashville has received the most rain Saturday and Sunday since rain amounts have been recorded.During his flood briefing Sunday afternoon, he also said that Frederick Douglass Head Start Center on North Seventh Street in Nashville was submerged in water up to its roof.Police Chief Ronal Serpas said that two police officers had to be rescued Saturday from a tree. A Belle Meade police officer was swept away in his patrol car at Harding Road and Lynnwood Boulevard Sunday, but he was rescued.Multiple major water line breaks Sunday in Brentwood have eliminated all water service to a large area in the southern part of the city. Neighborhoods that were affected included: Brenthaven, Mooreland Estates, Willowick, Brentwood South and Stonehenge subdivisions. Click here to read more of this story.The Metropolitan Transit Authority has suspended all bus service indefinitely because of flooding at its headquarters facility.All barge traffic was closed on the Cumberland River because the CSX drawbridge couldn't function.Emergency officials evacuated some flooded apartments along Murfreesboro Road near Mill Creek in southeast Nashville, forcing 300 residents out. However, many of those residents refused to leave their apartments.Bellevue neighborhoods near Beech Bend Drive and Foot Path Terrace and Bellevue Manor Road near Harpeth Valley Road were engulfed with water Sunday morning.Nashville residents can call 615-862-8574 if they need assistance finding a shelter. This number should be used for nonemergencies; use 911 for emergencies.Click here to find the emergency shelters opened by the American Red Cross in middle Tennessee. Flooding Closes I-24 In Antioch SaturdayInterstate 24 was closed at Bell Road Saturday night because of a massive amount of flooding on the roadway, killing one person.About 70 cars on the interstate were submerged by the floodwaters. A portable school room from nearby Lighthouse Christian school floated down I-24 and was destroyed.
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