Just the one thing today, because I fear that, like the New Orleans-loving national media, this blog has totally ignored the suffering of Nashville, which came through its floods without destroying a football stadium, and, and…
OK, reset: One of our own was left more or less homeless by the flood, and he has a video camera, not to mention TV news experience.
You can start Basset’s flood journey here, and follow the right-hand menu to the other parts of his video flood coverage. Cousin, I’m here to tell you, they got flooded. Stand at your front door and hold your hand as high as your head. That’s how much water they took. Much love and support to you, Basset, whatever that means, and best of luck on your rebuilding.
And have a good weekend, all. I know what Basset will be doing. Me, I hope to catch up on some sleep.
Sue said on May 21, 2010 at 11:18 am
Oh, Basset, that’s incredible. I watched all four parts, how awful and enlightening. But I like your voice and that excellent flag.
Is there a relief fund? I’m a little far away or I’d stop by with a casserole.
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Deborah said on May 21, 2010 at 12:16 pm
Basset that was really interesting. I had never seen the aftermath of a flood until the footage of post Katrina was shown on TV. Seeing this from your point of view brought it home.
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moe99 said on May 21, 2010 at 12:32 pm
Watched all 4, Bassett, and was very moved by the experience. Even more so when I saw this video that you put together back in 2008 about the Harpeth River:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37_VDcoks-c&feature=related
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Dorothy said on May 21, 2010 at 12:48 pm
I watched all four, too, and my goodness what an ordeal! But I’m so glad you survived, and it looks like you have flood insurance, too, since the house is airing out. Best of luck to you and the Mrs.; fingers crossed for no more floods.
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brian stouder said on May 21, 2010 at 1:25 pm
Basset – wow! I seem to be reduced to one syllable reactions these days, but still – wow.
The stark, skeletal remains of the inside of the house took me aback; shouldn’t have, I suppose, but – wow.
I confess you got me laughing with the aside about the Porsche that ‘had no business being here’ – and then, as if on cue, the sporty little car flitted away. (What did you have for lunch there? It looked like they might have had a barbecue going.)
Basset – here’s wishing you and especially Mrs Basset well. Hopefully the good news with regard to her well-being has continued. The flood certainly didn’t help anything there, except to the extent that she was precluded from throwing her energies into that
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Julie Robinson said on May 21, 2010 at 2:10 pm
Oh my heavens Bassett, how many feet over flood stage was that? What an ordeal. It looks like you have been very busy to have accomplished so much already. Add my best wishes to everyone else’s.
Carrying yesterday’s thread about going into exile due to a garage sale: our son is hosting a par-tee tonight and has already cranked up the music. I’m off to search out some cotton for my ears!
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Dorothy said on May 21, 2010 at 2:20 pm
The party is tonight but the music is already cranked up? That’s my kinda party guy, Julie!
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Dexter said on May 21, 2010 at 3:59 pm
Thanks for the videos, Basset. They really expanded my knowledge of the flood.
I like your determination; I am afraid I would have given up after this.
One of my smart-ass friends keeps saying “…let New Orleans go back to the crayfish!”.
Apparently many New Orleanians and Nashville residents aren’t going to let any damn flood beat you into submission. Good for you. You have spirit.
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Rana said on May 21, 2010 at 4:25 pm
Geez. I think what got me the most was the piles of gutted houses along the road. How devastating.
Thanks for the videos – sometimes seeing something makes so much difference.
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basset said on May 21, 2010 at 10:29 pm
Thanks for the support and the kind comments – “our flooded street” in the same menu shows some of it when the water was up. That was indeed the Harpeth out back, our house and the one next door are the closest to it on our street.
The water was only counter-top high in the house – that over the head part came when I was standing on the sidewalk at the bottom of the front steps. Still made a mess, though.
Brian, lunch at the food point that day was burgers and hot dogs, provided by the Harpeth Hills Baptist Church, which also offered laundry facilities and showers at the church a couple of miles away. Moe99, that video was done for the Harpeth River Watershed Association, a local preservation group… then, a year and a half later, the river rises up and bites us.
Julie, there’s a river gauge about a mile upstream of us which usually runs 2 or 3 feet, at least in the summer. It topped out around 27 feet this time. Sue, there is a relief fund, thanks for asking – this is a legitimate organization and they’re taking care of people much worse off than us:
http://www.cfmt.org/floodrelief/
Porsches are out of context in this neighborhood even during good times.
How are we doing… well, not so badly, and better than many. We do have insurance, although it’s only covering about a quarter of the contents, and we have an apartment, and a couple of storage lockers. The city cleanup trucks got most of the stuff out of our yard today, and I’m going over there tomorrow to rake up the rest and see if I can get my drowned mower started; whether we live there or not, I still have to pay the mortgage and keep up the grounds.
There’s been a lot of talk here about why things didn’t turn out the way they did in New Orleans, and this video, which I had nothing to do with producing, is probably the best explanation:
http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=pFjaQoOdJvI
Most of it’s Cumberland River flooding from other parts of town, powerful stuff nonetheless.
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coozledad said on May 21, 2010 at 11:38 pm
I hate to be obvious, but I also don’t. You got a president now that actually gives a shit whether you’re wandering around in river drawers, as opposed to the previous administration, who thought it was funny. The federal response has been quick. If people want to apply some moral dimension to Katrina, It’s that Republicans are always looking for a framework wherein they can hunt blacks.
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basset said on May 22, 2010 at 8:23 am
FEMA has really been on top of it here – inspectors showed up right away and payouts have been rapid. They’re also processing low-interest house loans in record time, my neighbor got one in less than a week. The big question now is who the city and FEMA will buy out, and where; we’re in the 100-year floodplain (the 500 starts across the street) and the floodway runs through our back yard.
I have a couple of aerial views at http://www.flickr.com/photos/85749853@N00/, they were taken after the water had gone down two or three feet. The usual river channel’s marked.
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alex said on May 22, 2010 at 8:32 am
Wow, Basset, that simply put me at a loss for words. My heart goes out to you and all of your fellow citizens. And, yes, I’m amazed that an event of this magnitude didn’t merit more news coverage than it got.
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basset said on May 22, 2010 at 10:22 am
Well, it didn’t involve New York, Washington, or the Middle East, so how important could it be?
here’s the graph from our upstream river gauge on the highway bridge just southeast of the house, less than a mile away now that I look at it – a little over two feet today, 27 during the flood. actually, that’s just as high as it could measure, water was running over the top of the bridge:
http://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/uv/?dd_cd=02_00065&format=img_stats&site_no=03433500&set_arithscale_y=on&begin_date=20100424
I’ll get a picture of it today if I have a chance.
time to get off the computer and go do something.
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