May Flood

Friday,
Adam and I both worked half days this day! We finally went to Lowe's to plant some new flowers and plants for our yard. They look so pretty. We still have a lot more work to do. Adam's dad also came down that evening to spend the night so he could help put shelves in our garage. So Friday night we went back to Lowe's to buy some shelve materials.





Saturday,
Adam and his dad woke up early to start building the shelves. It was nasty and rainy but luckily they were only having to stand in the garage. At this point, im just more worried about tornado warnings. Most people who know me are aware that tornados are one of my biggest fears. Well, the storms had lots of thunder and lightening but man, the rain was pouring and pouring to the ground. It was about noon and they were done with the shelves. Adam's dad decided he needed to get back home. (Thank you so much for the shelves, they look awesome.)
Well, we were starving so Adam and I drove up the road to Las Palmas. It was only mildly raining at this point. The water was definatly rising at this point however. Some peoples yards on Hwy 100 look liked the mini Harpeth river. We ate and hurried home. The rain kept comming and comming. I never really thought twice about Flood Warnings in the past and at this point still didnt. I mean from our neighborhood we couldnt even see the river. At this point, the large green field in our neighborhood had a good amount of water on it but wasnt to suprised about it.

Later, Buster and Adam braved the water and went to the grocery store since we were pretty sure we wouldnt get out for awhile. Adam came home with mainly refridgerator and freezer items. Thats what we mainly eat so thats what we got. The rains continued and the storms were strong. Still at this point I was only concerned about tornado warnings. The water was comming up pretty high on the other side of the U shape we live in. I was worried about those houses, but not mine because I lived far away from it. Below are pictures from Saturday.
Below is the lake that was now part of Avondale.



Below is me standing on my back patio. The zoom on the camera is enforced. Remember this fence for future reference.



Sunday,
We woke up with several text messages from Buster saying "The River is Huge." It is about 8 in the morning. We look outside and water is starting to form around the fence. I thought this was normal, they made that little ditch for the purpose of having water run down there instead of standing in people's yards. It was poring down rain lots of rain at this point. It wasnt stopping. And then at 9 am the power went off.
Well, 11 came around and everyone was blocked in the neighborhood. So when there is a flood in the neighborhood what does everyone do. We all go outside. My new saying is, "There is nothing like a flood to bring the neighborhood together." I met tons of new people. Well, the rains kept comming and this is what the water was looking like in the neighborhood now.
Remember the fence:



Well, after it settled down again everyone comes back outside. Still no power. We noticed something different. Yes, yes it was a COW. Apparently, a cow floated down into our neighborhood and was hanging out. He ran around some scaring people when he came out of no where and pretty sure saw him run across our yard. Then he settled in the empty lot from across the street. He became the Avondal mascot.



Quite a site. In our down time, we sat on the couch and just would read books. Yes, I was reading. We watched the waters keep rising. It was amazing seeing houses around me completly surouned in water. Luckily, it was basements and crawl spaces. But still lots of damage. The river even started going over the interstate. I at this time really felt the warning of the floods. I couldnt believe all of this that was happening right before our eyes and everone around us. No one unless they are in our condition can possibly know the fear we were having. Never in my wildest dreams did I think that the river would rise this much and terrorize all of our area that was not even in a flood zone. And the fact the no one over here had flood insurance.
Then, our roof starts to leak...adding fire to the fear in my eyes.
Mom had also called stating she saw our neighborhood on the TV. I think she knew at that time how bad it actually was. We did feel very grateful however because we knew that just on the other side of the interstate a lot more devistation was going on. With houses compleltly flooded.
This was now the site directly out our window.



This was the houses just across the yard from us.



That evening we grilled out since that was the only option with no power. Buster and Katy ate with us. I was so scared the river would rise over night and get into our house. I went to bed in fear that night. Adam and I and everyone in the neighborhood couldnt get to work the next day. Everything was flooded. And the cow kept us up all night mooooing. Poor thing.

Monday,
We woke up that morning, still no power, but blessed because the water did not rise, it was still very high but it did not rise. The interstate was still flooded and other roads. We were able to make it to Publix to get a few supplies..they were only letting us buy non frozen or refridgerated items. We were lucky to get there because the road was flooded directly after Publix. Then Adam had to get rid of three bags full of food. It was depressing. Our fridge is empty besides drinks that are in the fridge that wouldnt go bad. The water kept going down and down it was great. We went about our day basically the same as before without power but at least today we wernt fearful about water getting into our house. And as we were going to bed around 8 pm our electricity came back on. We felt it was a miracle because we had been hearing it was going to be much longer.

Im am completly grateful. I have been completly humbled. We feared for the worst and got more than I could ask for. We had a leaky roof, no power, and neighbors with flooded basements and crawl space. But some lost everything. I have never been so close to a natural disaster like this and it makes me so blessed that I came out of this okay. I pray for the ones who have lost it all. We have had a hard weekend of the unknown but it is nothing compared to some.

Food for thought:
1. When people are going through rough times as were people in this neighborhood and other areas, dont go driving through our neighborhood in clusters looking at the destruction. That was my number one pet peive. People who didnt belong here were driving around in packs. I couldnt believe it.
2. I want to think everyone who kept checking up on us. It means a lot to us. But it amazes me how some in other parts of Nashville who had nothing happen but some rain didnt even think about what some of us were going through. They have no idea what was going on with everyone unless they were going through it themselves. It really amazes me how people dont think about that.
3. I really wonder what happened to the cow. It was just gone Monday after hearing it mooooo all night.
4. These pictures above do not do the real thing justice AT all.

Today, I have been waiting on people to look at my roof. But has anyone responded to me..noooo. I have been trying to get the house back in order now that im able to see. And now everything moves on...like it didnt happen..

We went through a once in a 500 year flood.