Flooding has closed I-24, & there is so much water on the Interstate that cars are actually* floating away downstream!* :eek:
The towns of Smyrna & Lavergne are closed & off limits.
This flooding is unprecedented in the last 25 years.
Some kids tried to raft in a swollen stream. No word…
Yikes! It’s soggy here in Kentucky too; damn muddy Derby coming up in a few minutes.
News link?
See, now that’s the problem. Things like this happen every 25 years or so. It isn’t magic.
Now, if you get hit by a once in 100+ year event, then people tend to notice.
Edited to add–I certainly wasn’t trying to make light of people’s problems. Just the importance on a cosmic scale.
One ought to think of them in terms of % chance of risk, really. What we have come to call the “100-year storm” should actually be called a “1%-chance storm”. It has a 1% chance of occuring at least once in a given year.
Over a 30-year period, you have about a 26% chance of seeing a 1%-chance storm occur within that period. (from here.)
I’ve been the victim of a 100 year storm. I argued with my mortgage company that I didn’t need flood insurance since I was only in a “flood fringe” area. I lost the argument.
About 10 years later, we were deluged with 8" of rain in an hour. Flooding resulted in $65,000 damage to my house. I owe my mortgage company an apology. 
Laverne and Schmerly was cancelled a long time ago.*
Bos, I was reading about the rainfall and it appears to be a much greater event than a 25-year storm, in places. I didn’t realize it was that severe - six to ten inches in 12 hours, sheesh. Please stay safe.
Maybe Bosda didn’t know that the name of this forum has been changed to Things of Cosmic Importance I Must Share.
Bosda, I hope that you are hanging on okay. I know about the 'Boro’s record for flooding and the recent tornadoes.
The infamous Mill “Creek” is in my neighborhood, but it’s at the bottom of the hill and we are near the top. This particular part of Nashville has had ten inches of rain so far today and it just keeps coming. More of the same is forecast for tomorrow. Jackson had twelve inches. One of the meteorologists said near the end of today that it appears that this flood is going to break those records from 1979. (That had been Nashville’s record anyway.)
Five people have died in the flooding today and there are some missing. Did you see the person clinging to the telephone pole? There wasn’t even a boat available to rescue him and night was coming on… (Blue Hole Road) They closed I-40 in two places between Nashville and the river and also closed I-65 and I=24.
A portable school room (the size of a mobile home) floated down the interstate. One of the bobbing cars hit it and it started sinking from the rear. Then it flipped over and completely disintegrated. I think this was at the same locating that you described in your post. (On the interstate at Bell Road, right?)
At first the cars at that location were able to remain upright. They looked almost like they were parallel parked against a guard rail. Then a freight truck came through and made such a wake that all of the cars started bobbing, flipping over, or floating away. I just hope that all of the people got out.
Have you ever seen so many tornadoes that didn’t touch down?
I’m afraid this hasn’t made the best prom night for some kids. (In the original stage production of Grease there was a song “It’s Raining On Prom Night.” That would be an understatement in this mess. Cancel the limo. Rent a canoe.
One almost funny note. The Jimmy Buffet concert will go on as planned! I don’t know how anyone is going to get there, but…
Who knows what tomorrow will bring. I’m glad that the culvert at the end of our drive was repaired within the last month.
Keep yourself safe.
Yay!!! They’ve opened my exit and I-24 back up between the 'Boro and Smyrna. I might be able to make it home from work in the morning.
From where I am, I can almost see where Brynda lives, but it would take watercraft to get there. 
It didn’t look too bad when I left from Lebanon yesterday afternoon a little after four. When I got to the Almaville Rd. exit and down to the light, I had to turn around. There was about 5’ (according to the firefighter there) of water covering the intersection.
After getting back onto the interstate, I got off on Sam Ridley and was told that my exit was accessable from the eastbound side, but it was down to one lane. Had I been driving anything that sat lower than my S10 pickup, the exit would have likely stalled my car.
About seven, I had serious doubts about my ability to get home in the morning, so I made a dollar store (at the end of our drive) run for toothbrushes (for me and my guys who made it in), toothpaste, etc. I should have walked.
When I got out, they were routing folks off the interstate, down Midway Lane (where I work in a business park), and out the back way around the flooding on Almaville Rd. and on to TN840. That went on for several hours. Now we’ve been told that I-24 is open to Murfreesboro and should continue to be until morning. I. Just. Hope.
Y’all keep your fingers crossed for me. I’ll just click my heels three times and repeat "There’s no place like home…There’s… about 5:30 am.
:crossing fingers for missred:
Sounds like scary stuff! :eek:
missred, were you aware of tornado warnings where you were any of that time? They were just everywhere. I either saw or heard Lisa Patton say something about Almaville Road. It could be that I just saw “Almaville” on the map. I was glued to the TV all day.
You be careful tomorrow – even in your truck. The grounds are saturated and there is no place for any new rain to go.
I think you must have nerves of steel. That rain was coming down hard.
When I posted, they were talking 25 year.
By the end of today (Sunday)–who knows?
The tornado sirens here went off 3 times yesterday.
Actually, my awareness about the tornados was from online reports. Had we been unfortunate enough to have endured one, I was safer at work than in my second floor apartment.
The trip home was uneventful. Must’ve been the crossed fingers and clicking of the [del]ruby slippers[/del] white Reeboks w/ pink trim.
I saw the news photos where the general in the Lebanon town square just about got his feet wet when the water was high. Mercy!
Zoe, Bosda and all of the rest of the Middle Tennessee Dopers: stay dry!
right now, I am very happy I live on a hill! MidTN Dopers, stay safe!
I wasn’t fussing, just remarking that it was very bad. 
There’s a web site where you can check on the flooding status of rivers near you. I think this is the one for y’all : http://www.srh.noaa.gov/lmrfc/ .
It shows observed & forecasted river conditions, observed precipitation and forecasted precipitation. That might be helpful for folks wanting to know if the water has gone down yet in certain areas.
Here is another site: NOAA - National Weather Service - Water which shows river gages nationwide, and indicates where flooding is occuring.
I was trapped for an hour in Wal-mart yesterday because of a tornado watch. They herded all the customers into the center of the store and wouldn’t let anyone leave. My house is fine - it’s stood for 160 years, I think it’ll take a direct hit from a tornado to take it out. Not that a tornado is so unlikely here.
StG
I ended up being very, very lucky. I was at an outdoor wedding during the tornado watch, a couple of miles from the Blackman sighting. One of the tents blew away, but we were all tucked into a brick building. It was a tight squeeze, but the bride and groom took it in stride. I left about 4:00, and heard the interstate was closed so I took another route and made it fine. I am staying put today. I have a large culvert at the end of my yard, so I am not worried about my house. It feels weird to be surrounded by so much flooding, though. Bell Road and I-24 is just a few miles from here.
Just heard that Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital is flooded. What a mess.
Sewer lids in Nashville are popping up, from the rush of water beneath.
Yikes. Y’all batten down the hatches and ride it out safe.
Geek report: according to my rainfall atlas, the rainfall for a 12-hour, 1%-chance storm in middle TN is about six inches. (The 1%-chance is what’s referred to as the ‘100-year’.) I think there were places that got more than that.