The rains have continued today, only slightly abated. With the forecast for rains to continue in Nashville and points north and south until about 9 tonight, it seems likely that flood levels will remain high, if not go higher, for many hours afterward. With not even two days in May completed, this is already the wettest May ever recorded and is the sixth-wettest month, May or not, ever recorded.
The Cumberland River, running through downtown Nashville, is flooded, although not nearly as badly as it used to in past decades because flood-control embankments and other measures have been taken over the years. Nashville's Mayor Karl Dean is speaking to cameras now. He said that 36,000 Nashville residents are without power, actually a lower figure than earlier today. Nashville rescue crews have done more than 600 water rescues. The chief of the city's emergency services said that waters are starting to recede and that the US Army Corps of Engineers has said that the Cumberland river should not reach emergency flood stage of 48 feet above normal although it will approach that level. Update: news announcers said that the water level is already at 45 feet.
Nashville and Williamson County, directly south, have been very hard hit. The Franklin neighborhood where my family and I lived for 12 years has been flooded in part. Below is a photo of one street away from our old address:
Downtown Franklin is flooded by the Harpeth River, too:
The Tennessean has posted that 20 homes in my old neighborhood have been evacuated by authorities with more expected to be vacated. Here is a video from the paper's site:
I posted yesterday about severe flooding over I-24 in Nashville. Here is the aftermath. All this debris was washed onto the interstate by the waters, smashing into the cars and trucks trapped on the road already.
Here's a Twitter pic of the Cumberland from a condo overlooking.
Enclave Nashville blog has more photos.
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