Damn RIGHT the flooding was worse than reported…
Amidst all of the news about the oil spill, I decided (for the umpteenth time since this weekend) to google some news or images about the floods that hit most of Tennessee (and Kentucky…and Georgia…etc) this weekend.
Surprise. Still not as many.
No one I’ve talked to out of state even knew about it. No one even acted like it was a big deal. (“Oh wow. That sucks.”)
No it does more than suck. This wasn’t just some ‘Oh we have standing water flooding. Crap.” This was “Oh shit there’s a running wall of 5-15 ft of water heading for me” flooding.
I understand the significance of the oil spill and I believe it deserves the attention it gets.
I understand the implications of a bomb-strapped vehicle in New York.
But I also understand that when at LEAST 1/2 (if not 2/3) of a LARGE state like Tennessee is flooding under FEET of water and being declared disaster stricken in an area large enough to have been hit by flood waters from a hurricane, you’d think it would warrent some national attention fairly quickly.
Especially considering we’re land-locked.
I ran across this article in my google fit:
Nashville flooding far worse than media reporting (videos)
Just the title made me feel better.
Now, our county managed to slide by with less damage than others – most of our county is built on a hill. We lost some (more) shingles and have a leak in our roof but thankfully our house didn’t flood and…well, we still HAVE a house.
The same can’t be said for the counties surrounding us. People lost homes that insurance won’t cover because “You’re not in a flood plane.”
WTF? No, maybe not but that should say something when you have 5 feet of water in your house and you DON’T live on a flood plane.
Or your house was swept away by water and you DON’T live on a flood plane.
There are bridges gone or severely damaged – and we’re not talking old bridges that needed repair…oh no. We’re talking bridges they JUST finished building because the previous needed to be replaced.
The pictures you can find are scary as hell. IF you can find them, because the news isn’t carrying the photos that citizens have taken.
The majority of photos I’ve found that actually show the extent of the damage, the severity of the flooding come from locals. The news…well they have a couple of photos, a few videos that are impressive but that’s it. Nothing that even touches on how bad.
Nothing that touches on how widespread. For example, the news keeps saying “Nashville and the surrounding areas” were affected by flooding. Well that’s an understatement. ALL of West Tennessee and Middle Tennessee, and some portions of East Tennessee (although to a lesser extent). Take a look at a map of Tennessee and see how large an area that is.
As Dave pointed out last night, it doesn’t warrent much news coverage because – relatively speaking – not that many people were injured or died.
What that tells me is that either the majority of people were smart enough to find shelter OR our emergency crews did one HELL of a job.
Right now, it’s sunny and warm. A lot of MY county is drying up. We still have roads that will be closed for months, because of bridges being damaged or gone…or the sinkholes…or the road is just gone.
But the counties around us? It may be dry but the rivers are still rising because NOW we’re getting all of the backwash from Middle Tennessee. Levees are still breaking and flooding the towns. Dyersburg was being evacuated just yesterday because a levee broke and the city was under water.
Oh. And by the way…we didn’t have DAYS of rain for this flooding. We flooded in under 12 hours. It started raining here LATE Friday night…11 or so. By the time I left for work (clueless) at 7 there were feet of water in places.
And it continued to rain Saturday.
And I’m done.
Ann Curry (Today Show/NBC Reporter) has been consistently tweeting about the flooding in Tennessee on her personal Twitter account. Of course it kinda bothers me that Nashville is getting ALL of what coverage there is when Memphis got hit too. Not to mention Abbeville, Mississippi that got flattened by a tornado.
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And that whole “You’re not in a flood plane” deal with the insurance companies just burns me up. Those people ASKED for flood coverage (the ones that channel 5 talked to in Millington) and were told they “didn’t need it”. I’m sorry, but if I’m willing to PAY for flood insurance who is the company to tell me I can’t have it?! They seem to be in “flood planes” now.
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http://www.commercialappeal.com has a number of images, as does http://www.wmctv.com – Local Memphis media, but they do a decent job of covering the entire Mid-South area.
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You know… I don’t have cable TV anymore, so I don’t get to watch the news. I often listen to NPR, but their news is often local Michigan crap which I hate, and lately I haven’t been listening. This is the second time OD gave me what I consider to be important news. I didn’t even know there had been flooding anywhere, except Haiti. The commercials I catch on Hulu have all been about Haiti,which has pissed me off for various reasons. But what about people in our own country? URGH!! Anyways, thank you for making me aware. I will be praying for you and the people impacted by all this. ~rory
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Random noter: I saw you on another diary and I live in TN too and I agree with you, there was nowhere near the coverage there should have been since they were rescuing people from cars in BOATS, levees were breaking, etc.
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RYN (FRIDAY’S CHILD) – I can’t note your diary, but exactly…it was/is a HUGE deal and the vast majority of people outside the affected area have no idea it even happened :/
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I was shocked it didn’t get more attention either… considering the death toll it IS a big deal!
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Flooding apparantley doesnt sell as much as oil disaster. You cant trust anyone in any news agency…they only report on the things that they can sensationalize and sell to satisfy their own ends.
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I heard today how bad it really was. I was shocked the attention level for this was small and the coverage nonexistent. I do hope you and everyone are safe. Take care!
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I haven’t heard much news myself, though I admit I do not watch too much news. Yet, what I have watched is basically as you said, NYC bomb issue and the oil spill.
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I keep looking at the news about the flooding, I have several favs that are in this area and I am scared for them. *hugs*
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WMC Channel Five and Rock103 are raising money to help the people in Dyersburg and Millington!! I’m sure there’s information on how to donate on both station’s websites. They’re standing in the Channel 5 parking lot taking donations all day today – just wanted you to know! 🙂 (I figured they’d do this – they do this kind of thing ALL the time!)
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Holy crap! I knew a little because of someone on Facebook, but I’ve heard nothing on the news at all. That’s incredible. I’m off to google it now. With blessings for a quick and safe return to normality…
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I can tell you why — Tennesee is mostly a Caucasian state. It may sound racist but it’s true, if you think about it. New Orleans, Haiti, etc. When a tornado takes out a whole town in Oklahoma, or a flood takes out the better part of Tennessee, it doesn’t give Hollywood liberals any warm fuzzies. Just sayin’.
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This article was writen about Nashville, but i think the same can be said for West TN too: http://www.section303.com/we-are-nashville-4366
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I heard about it, though you are quite correct, it doesn’t seem to be getting a lot of air time (I only know because I’m lame and dig through news articles from various sources when I’m bored at the office). I hope the area is getting aid and the floods stop soon. Its been a year of terrible floods everywhere. And New Orleans knows, you don’t recover from that too quick 🙁
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