2010-05-08 CNN
A lot of landmarks right now in Nashville under water. Let’s start with the good news though. The good news is, Brooke, that the Cumberland River has crested and is on the way down. They hopes it’s gonna be back in these banks within the next 24 hours. This is Second Avenue in the Downtown Nashville. The name would imply there should be another two blocks before you get to the river. That’s not the case today. However, as we say, the picture is improving but the toll has been incredibly high, 18 people have died in the state of Tennessee alone, ten of them in Davidson County that includes the city of Nashville. Right now, they know that the cleanup is gonna take a long time and cost a lot of money.
Nashville residents say there was almost no time to prepare for the deadly deluge.
'I’ve been down here 40 years. Never saw it like this.'
Since the weekend, a small navy of emergency responders and volunteers have ferried stunned survivors to safety.
'It almost kinda gives you reminiscent of Katrina, something like that. And you think, well, it can’t happen here, well it has.'
It happened because a record 13 inches of rain fell on the city in just two days. The Cumberland River and other waterways rose faster than most people could imagine, trapping even a local pastor Sunday morning.
'We were getting ready for church, to go to church and by the time we got out, the water had risen to our porch. The neighbors actually had to form a chain, because the current was coming through each house.'
If the images underground were frightening, from the air, they were staggering. Murky brown water grows to roof tops and lapped around the high-rises. It even threatened the LP Field, home to the NFL Tennessee Titans. The Cumberland River has risen above 50 feet. The last time that happened was in the 1960s. Nashville’s mayor and Tennessee’s governor flew over the flooding and seemed taken aback.
'Right here in...'