A House Floating Down the Interstate is Just Not Normal

I feel like I owe the entire Middle Tennessee region a giant apology for my post on rain.

In case you haven't been watching the news much of my city looks like this:

(photo credit: tennessean.com)

It's really f'ing scary.

Yesterday I went downtown with my friend to party with the Parrotheads before the Jimmy Buffett concert. Then the tornado sirens went off. Let me tell you, for someone who did not grow up around tornadoes...woah. Sirens warning that tornadoes are in the area + new stations saying tornadoes will be cloaked in rain so you won't see them + text messages from freaked out friends about flooding = one stressed out Mel.

And then it got worse. Because it rained for 36 straight hours. It rained over 13 inches. That's more than DOUBLE the highest two day total in recorded history. Creeks jumped their banks. Neighborhoods flooded. The river swelled. The river is still swelling.

At about 3 pm I heard the chop chop chop of helicopter blades. I guessed it was a news helicopter. I figured it was a good sign because that meant the skies were clear enough for air traffic. Then I watched as they circled. I watched as the door opened. Right over the once-creek-now-raging-river just behind my apartment complex. I watched them come down to hover about 50 feet above the water. My heart stood still. I took a few pictures.

I saw more people come out of apartments that I have EVER seen in my complex. I didn't see them pull anyone out of the water. I'm not sure if they were in communication with a crew on the ground, or looking for someone who might have been swept down stream. I turned around, sat down in my comfortable, dry, chair next to my window and cried. I'm sad for all of the people who are cold and wet, I'm worried for them and their rescuers.

It's going to be a long night in Nashville. It's probably going to be a long few days, maybe even a few weeks.

I think we all kind of feel like this blackbird I saw climbing all over the apartment across from me:

Waterlogged and miserable. Just wanting a little wind to dry out our feathers.

Cars, trucks, and houses floating down the interstate is not normal. But I do like my city's new nicknames, particularly, Nashvenice. I kind of love that one.