Michelle Smiles

Teaching my children to question authority, except mine.

A funny thing happened on the way to the Apocalypse

May4

(Not my photo…taken from the AP.) I joked about apocalyptic rain on Saturday.  I had no idea how accurate it would prove to be.  I’m sure you’ve all read about the flooding in middle TN.  We are fine but what a horrific storm!  I don’t think I’ve ever seen it rain like that before.  It was a constant, heavy, torrential downpour.  It would lighten now and then but it didn’t stop for 40 hours.  We ended up getting 16 inches of rain.  Roads and yards flooded in my little town but I’m not aware of anyone with serious damage here.  Some roof leaks and some wet basements.  We were all trapped at home for the most part because the roads were closed.  But other areas around us had catastrophic flooding.  I’ve shared a lot of photos on Facebook.  Watching the news coverage drove home just how dangerous and horrific the situation was for so many near us.

(This one is from CBS News.) In the wee hours of Monday, the rain stopped.  Yesterday dawned sunny with clear blue skies.  Except for the humidity in the air, you wouldn’t know what the previous 2 days had been like.  Fortunately, my little town seems to be okay.  Many other areas can’t say the same.  The town we lived in when we initially moved south was devastated.  Downtown still had many flooded streets yesterday as the river crested at 12 feet above flood level.

(I pulled this one from a local news outlet.) If you’ve ever visited our area and stayed at the Opryland hotel, it is filled with water.  I can’t imagine the cost of fixing the damage on top of the lost revenue while repairs are made – not just to Opryland but to most tourist attractions in the area.  Aside from the business and tourist dollars lost, I would make bets that a large percentage of people whose homes sustained damage don’t have flood insurance.  They didn’t live in a flood plain and there likely didn’t seem to be a reason for it.  Many lost everything and will not have insurance payouts to replace the material items.

Shortly after I moved to Pittsburgh, I worked on a FEMA project leading a crisis counseling team in the community after flooding.  I enjoyed the work if not the project (as with many emergency grants it was thrown together without a clear vision or end goal).  I have this intense need to dust off my clip board and start going door to door to talk to people and see how they are coping once the water recedes.

************** Silver lining(s)

My dorky couponing is coming in handy. I have a decent amount of stockpiled stuff to donate to the relief cause.

My little garden didn’t complain about all of the rain – glad we took the time to make sure the drainage was sufficient.  These shallots were not over the top of this container before the rain started.  They grew several inches this weekend.  The rest of my garden is pretty happy too.

posted under Growing stuff, nashville
4 Comments to

“A funny thing happened on the way to the Apocalypse”

  1. On May 4th, 2010 at 12:51 pm Shannon Says:

    Michelle,

    I can totally relate. I live in Iowa and two years ago this summer, we had RECORD flooding. This in the 500 year flood plain and then some were hit. To this day, I still am in awe when we drive through the neighborhoods where houses are still in disrepair. It hit many, many people hard from losing their houses to being out of jobs for long periods of time, etc. It’s amazing what mother nature can do.

  2. On May 4th, 2010 at 6:16 pm Stephanie Says:

    Totally crazy! Glad you stayed mostly dry.

  3. On May 5th, 2010 at 10:45 am Deb Says:

    Michelle-

    I am so glad you are all OK. I was starting to really really worry.

    Love and hugs,
    Deb

  4. On May 14th, 2014 at 1:38 pm Selma Says:

    I think that what you said made a great deal of sense.
    But, what about this? suppose you added a little information?
    I ain’t suggesting your information isn’t good, however what if you
    added something that makes people want more? I mean Michelle Smiles ? Blog Archive ? A funny thing happened on the way to the
    Apocalypse is kinda boring. You should look at Yahoo’s front page and see
    how they create article headlines to grab viewers to click.
    You might add a related video or a related pic or two to grab readers excited about what you’ve written.

    Just my opinion, it might bring your posts a little bit more interesting.