How to Describe the Flood in Nashville

Considered an epic flood event by the National Weather Service, Nashville's 2010 Cumberland River flood killed 28 people in Tennessee, Mississippi and Kentucky, including 10 in downtown Nashville. The Nashville flood occurred over the weekend of May 1 and 2, shattering the city's 30-year rainfall records and causing flooding to the city's historic district, including the Grand Ole Opry House and the Country Music Hall of Fame, as well as schools, hospitals, state buildings and hundreds of private businesses and homes. Emergency rescues included the evacuation of thousands of vacationers and residents, often by watercraft such as jet skis.

Instructions

• 1

  Compare the amount of rainfall to other flood disasters. For example, over the two-day flood period in Nashville, rain measurements in 15 Nashville observatory locations exceeded Hurricane Katrina's landfall rainfall measurements.

• 2

  Examine the amount of water that fell in gallons during the Nashville flood. In the hardest hit areas, which include Davidson, Williamson, Dickson, Hickman, Benton, Perry and Humphreys counties, an average of 14-to-15 inches of water, or 420 billion gallons, fell over a two-day period.

• 3

  Contrast Nashville's rainfall history with the two-day 2010 flood rainfall. At 7 p.m. on May 2, 2010, the National Weather Service reported 7.21 inches of rain in one day, which shattered Nashville's previous record for rainfall within one calendar day, which was set at 6.6 inches on Sept. 13, 1979. May 1, 2010 remains the third-highest rainfall day in Nashville history. The two-day rainfall total of the Nashville flood, or 13.53 inches, doubled the previous record, set on September 13 and 14 during Hurricane Fredrick in 1979.

• 4

  Describe aftermath of 2010 Nashville flood. In the days following the flooding, 52 of 95 Tennessee counties were deemed disaster areas once President Obama took a helicopter aerial tour of the damage.

• 5

  Explain the financial strain of the Nashville flood. The property-loss estimates of the Nashville flood exceeded $2 billion as of May 19, 2010, which does not include public buildings and infrastructure. Over 11,000 property parcels were damaged during the flood.