A billion dollars and counting. That’s the current estimate for the cost of cleanup and repair in flood ravaged Nashville, where thousands of homes and businesses as well as some of the state capital’s most important landmarks were damaged or destroyed by deadly storms and massive flooding last weekend. And while Nashville was the hardest hit, other sections of the state as well as parts of Arkansas, Mississippi and Kentucky were battered, too. Recovery costs elsewhere likely will be in the billions as well.
The waters are receding — the Cumberland River is finally below flood stage — and a bit of normalcy is returning to Nashville and the surrounding area. Electricity, for example, has been restored to most places where it was lost. Some businesses are re-opening and the number of workers returning to offices increases every day. Even so, it’s there is evidence of the deluge and its aftermath everywhere.
The death toll continues to rise. At least 30 people, 20 in Tennessee, died in the storms. The toll could be higher. At this writing, authorities were still searching for at four more people missing in Tennessee and Kentucky. All are feared to have died in the storms. Additional damage and loss of life is possible, too. Officials in western Kentucky report continued flooding and water levels that are the highest in decades.
Comprehensive assessment
The receding waters in Nashville and other locales have allowed a more comprehensive assessment of damage. The ensuing reports, though incomplete, suggest massive destruction or impairment to transportation infrastructure. Hundreds of roads and bridges, for example, will need to be inspected. Many, experts say, likely will require repairs or need to be replaced. Even railroads were not immune to storm-related woes.
The main line between Nashville and Memphis is out for at least four weeks because two bridges washed away. A spokesman for the CSX Transportation said the line should be able to reroute most shipments until repairs are made. Still, the need to do so is testament to the power of the floodwaters.
Damage is also evident in thousands of homes and businesses in hundreds of neighborhoods in Nashville and elsewhere. By Friday, hundreds of homeowners were removing several inches of sludge and sewage from inside and, in some cases, under their property. Others were ripping up carpet and floors and removing soaked drywall and insulation. Many had gotten tetanus shots or made sure theirs were still effective. Almost all had bags of lime at the ready. It is, the homeowners have learned, just about the only thing that will dull the foul smell left behind after even the most thorough cleaning.
Many of Nashville’s most highly visible institutions and attractions were inundated, as well. The County Music Hall of Fame, for example, sustained damage. LP Field, home of the Tennessee Titan’s pro football team, took a hit, too, though officials reported that damage was not extensive.
That’s not the case at the Grand Ole Opry House, legendary home of country music. The Opry stage was under two feet of water during the flood, according to a spokesman man for Gaylord Entertainment. That’s forced the Opry to do something it rarely has done in its long history. It will move shows to other sites for an undetermined amount of time. Damage in the entertainment complex was not limited to the Opry House alone.
The Gaylord Opryland Resort, the hotel next to the Opry House, was struck by extensive flooding — up to 10 feet in some places. Officials said the resort’s first floor, its power plant and its technical hub were flooded. Substantial repairs will have to be made before the facility resumes normal operations.
The cost will be substantial. A company executive reported Friday that damage likely is so great that it will exceed Gaylord’s $50 million insurance coverage. The company, a mainstay in Nashville’s high-profile music and tourism industry, will be face additional losses, too. The resort won’t be accepting bookings from now through October.
Agricultural losses
The state’s farmers face the possibility of big losses, too. The water has ravaged spring planting in about two-thirds of the state and it is possible that an entire crop will be lost. The extent of the damage and concomitant losses to one of the state’s largest economic drivers, won’t be known for a while. Many of the fields still have water in them and farmers can’t make the first-hand inspections necessary to accurately assess the condition of their land and the status of their crops. Such devastation and the losses attached to it are hardly surprising in the wake floods that prompted a surface water specialist with the U.S. Geological Survey to say stream flow following the storms was above the level of what some people call “the 500-year flood.” Damage is so widespread, in fact, that 52 of Tennessee’s 95 counties have been declared disaster areas following the record-shattering rains.
The more than 13 inches of rain that fell around Nashville during the first days of May obliterated previous day-by-day marks. Other areas reported as much as 20 inches of rainfall. In many places, the two or three-day totals easily pushed creeks and rivers to record heights and made the current month the wettest May on record.
It’s hardly a wonder, then, that officials and residents in Nashville and other hard-hit areas struggling mightily to deal with the aftermath of storms that rank among the worst in the state’s recorded weather history, now cast a wary eye to the sky when even a small chance of rain is mentioned by forecasters.