family silhouette

Sunday, May 2, 2010

May 1 Flood


Bridge on Holly Grove Road washed out (the day after)
Canal way over at Gilt Edge, the day after, Sunday!
Singleton Parkway exit off 385
BCI in Brighton
Candy Lane and Turkey Scratch
Creek by my Grandmothers, VERY high!
Hwy. 51 & 385
supposed to be a field behind Jason's Uncle Kyle Hanks
Saturday morning we woke to a lot of flooding. I have never seen anything like it. Jason had to be at work Saturday morning at the VA for a shutdown and he called to tell me it was getting bad and that the VA's first floor had water pouring in and it took him 1 1/2 hours to get to work! I already had plans to go and visit Grandmother at Baptist East as she was recuperating from her open heart surgery. Brie and I waited until around 1pm and decided to go ahead and try to go. I had no idea how bad it was really going to be. I couldn't get to Memphis through Candy Lane because it was completely under water, as was 59 west through Gilt Edge. Tried Holly Grove, but the canal was over the road there too and had washed out huge drops along the road. Finally we made it to 51 and I thought we were clear! As I turned off Navy Rd. onto Raleigh Millington, the road was being closed in front of the railroad tracks. We were rerouted through a neighborhood back to Navy Rd. Brie couldn't believe all the kids playing in their flooded streets with floats! It was crazy!
We went up 51 to 385, only to learn that not only was Raleigh Millington flooded but water was half way up Munford Funeral Home! Singleton road was completely under water!
We managed to get there through Brunswick Rd., no problems at all. Of course we had to stop by Target and Once Upon a Child, and while we were in there the sirens began to sound! Tornado had been spotted!
After much excitement we made it to Baptist East and Grandmother was excited that I had driven by her house and took lots of pictures to show her that her house was completely fine, but that what was once a field across the road was now a beautiful lake! It saddened her to see it look like that knowing the Baskins had just planted it that week.
Grandmother was adimate that I get myself and Brie home before dark, but little did I know that would not be the case. I thought it would be an easy trip, but now Brunswick was closed due to the bridge there being flooded. I was routed through a road I had never been down and ended up making my way to Highway 14 long enough to get on 385. Once we hit Hwy 51 I was not excited that I had to go through lots of water over the exit just to get onto the highway. I couldn't believe how much had changed in a few hours. Police were everywhere, Los Reyes parking lot was under water and all of the apartments there were too. It was such a sad sight.
The kids were out of school on Monday due to roads being washed out, but teachers reported to clean up leaks and such. At BHS we have several students who lost everything, one of the students I came to know well this year lost not just her house, but all of her new baby's everything and they already didn't have much.
We take it for granted, and something happens so quick. President Obama declared Tipton County along with many other counties a disaster. FEMA has moved in to help and I hope we don't see anything else like this again. I believe the last time anything like this happened was 1939.
Nashville was also hit extremely hard, it is horrifying to look at pictures of Nashville and see that downtown is under water. The Opryland Hotel, the Titan's stadium, etc. Tennessee has a long cleanup ahead.

1 comment:

Liz said...

My family got up Sat. morning and had no electricity. We thought we were going to eat breakfast at Perkins. Wrong--we were surrounded by water!