First off, thank you again, Maren, for what you're doing to help the
ferrets from these families in your neighboring state! Your post in
today's FML literally had me in tears. I think it was the first
full-blown cry I've had since this happened! There have been daily
"small crying sessions" (especially when I talk to someone about the
kindness and generosity pouring out from all the strangers), but today
was full-blown. And BIG...thanks for putting Maren's post at the top
today...it was nice to see the great flood make top news somewhere for
a change. ;-) For anyone who hasn't seen the devastation here, I urge
you to check any of the Nashville news sites online and there are tons
of videos and pictures to give you an idea of how bad it was/is.
Yesterday's press conference had some new information...they just found
out that, in the middle of the storm on Sunday (May 2), there was a F1
tornado in the Rivergate area....nobody even knew until yesterday! That
was a huge shock to everyone!
Many people still do not know how bad the situation across Tennessee
really is. First, they called it a 100 year flood...then a 500 year
flood. Now, it's being called an 8,000 year flood - a flood of
"Biblical proportions"! We've barely gotten any national media
coverage...definitely not the amount you'd expect for such devastation.
It seems tornadoes and hurricanes make top news, but more than half
of a state (52 of 95 counties have been declared disaster areas now)
having flooding of "Biblical proportions" gets 2 minutes a day of
National media coverage (if that much). Some say we didn't get the
coverage because there was no immediate looting and violence. Others
say it's because we (being called "The Volunteer State for good reason)
immediately jumped in and started helping our neighbors, whether we
knew them or not. When Anderson Cooper of CNN found out about how bad
it was, he immediately came out and did his 360 show on the devastation
here. Sadly though, there are still so many smaller cities that nobody
realizes were hit...in some of the rural areas, streets and bridges
have been washed away and the cities literally cut in half.
My dearest friend here had severe damage to her home, right behind
Opryland Hotel/Opry Mills. Her subdivision's water did not recede until
last Wednesday (it flooded twice due to the dams being released), so
that was our first look - late that day. We mainly just tried to wrap
our heads around the damage and went back the following day to start
the recovery process. We had complete strangers show up at the door and
just ask "What can we do?". Most were like myself, Nashvillians who
were spared any damage and willing to do whatever needed to be done. A
few even came down from Kentucky. Some of the volunteers are registered
with various non-profit groups. Hands on Nashville had something like
7500 people sign up to volunteer by Sunday night (May 2nd)...before
even knowing HOW bad it was. This morning, HON's Facebook page has
almost 18,000 fans, most of those being registered as volunteers.
Samaritan's Purse is coming out today to finish up what the other
volunteers didn't get to complete over the weekend.
I lost my job in March and I learned about 15 years ago, after
surviving Hurricane Opal in Destin, FL, that everything happens for a
reason. We may never know what that reason is, but sometimes we do find
out. As my mother pointed out when she took Marquita and I to dinner
after assessing the damage on Wednesday, maybe the reason for me being
fired was so that I'd be available to help my neighbors in this time
of need. Though I'm limited by a herniated disc, there's still so
much that I can do. The volunteers did most of the HARD work over the
weekend...tearing out the carpet and drywall and cabinets. Yesterday,
I borrowed a floor scraper and got the linoleum out of Marquita's
bathroom and kitchen. I'm paying for it physically this morning, but
it'll pass. I'm too stubborn for my own good sometimes. ;-)
As Maren stated, most of these people did not have flood insurance.
When they bought their homes, their real estate agents told them that
it wasn't needed, as many of these areas are not considered flood
zones. Hopefully, with the amount of fundraising being done (just one
telethon last week brought in over $1.7 million), we can rebuild this
city with little cost to the homeowners. Plus, there are several
benefit concerts scheduled in the next few weeks. Various individuals
and businesses are offering their labor at no charge, and the flood
relief organizations are working on raising funds to supply the
necessary materials. Nobody is just sitting back and waiting for FEMA
to come through with $$ for the repairs...we're all just doing what
we can to "get 'er done" out here! All of the monetary donations to
the Red Cross are being sent to FEMA and I hope they're not making
a mistake by doing that! There's one group that's selling t-shirts
for $20, and $17 of that is going to three of the bigger victim
assistance groups to put the money straight back into the community
( http://nashvilleflood.myshopify.com/pages/about-us ).
Even though I have no income (denied unemployment - yes, I've filed an
appeal), I do have PayPal Buyer Credit, so I ordered my "H2010" shirt.
(Fortunately, my father is assisting with my bills until I can find a
paying job.)
Again, I was lucky to be spared any flooding in my area. Both of the
other homes I had put in bids on when I was looking 3 years ago have
been severely damaged. I "settled" for this house and now I'm thankful
that I did. All my critters are safe and I've let the local shelters
know that I can take in any ferrets if necessary (with 2 dogs and a
cat, in addition to the 8 ferrets), all I can shelter in my small house
would be ferrets. Though I do feel bad that mine aren't getting as much
playtime as they're accustomed to, since I'm gone 8-10 hours a day,
cleaning up the mess elsewhere. With most of them being rescues though,
they're happy for any amount of playtime they can get!
Off to clean litter boxes, then back to my volunteer work...
Brooke & the Music City Zoo Crew
[Posted in FML 6695]
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