One year ago today, I was coming home from work when I found myself facing a torrent of water rushing across the road. I live on a narrow road which winds through a hollow. It is the only way into the neighborhood.
I could only see a few feet beyond a curve, so I wasn't sure what I was getting into. They always tell you not to drive though water, and I'd had my car for only five days. Unsure, I stopped and waited.
A car pulled up behind me, then proceeded to drive through the water. When I didn't see anyone bailing out or a car floating downstream, I started forward.
I rounded the curve only to see more water. Knowing that stopping would only make things worse, I kept going round the next curve. Still no end in sight. I could smell the mud as I drove, my car leaving a wake behind me. After somewhere between 1/10 and 1/8 of a mile, I emerged on a stretch of visible road. My own driveway was inaccessible, so I parked at a house across the road and waded home. Then I called my neighbor to tell him whose car was in his yard. I had just bought it that week, so they weren't familiar with it.
Later that afternoon, I-24 flooded, forcing a bunch of people (including one of my current coworkers) to abandon their cars and trucks. The opposite side of the median hadn't flooded yet, and the drivers waded through waste deep water and climbed the barrier to walk to safety. This was the picture that made the news.
By morning, our road had rapids. It was not even possible to walk across the street. We had access to three other houses, and we visited in the front yard of one of them, wearing raincoats and watching the flood. That was the day before our 25th wedding anniversary, and we had a party and bonfire planned. Needless to say, it didn't happen.
By that evening, the Cumberland River inundated much of Nashville, including one of the two water treatment plants and huge swaths of downtown. My favorite mall, still closed, took on nine feet of water. I've never seen anything like it.
One year later, it it gray and rainy, but all is lush, green and a normal day.
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