Flooding, tornados and more flooding - Part I

Things are pretty awful in Nashville right now, but the Cooper household is hanging in there just fine. Every area of Nashville is experiencing dramatic flooding after getting up to 15 inches of rain in the last 36 hours. Here are a couple of photos of the park that is a five minute walk from our house. The river is at 24 feet, which is a new record, I think. In the first picture, you can see the top of an SUV in the parking lot. In the second photo, the river bank is actually about 100 feet, or maybe more, from where the water is now.

There are only 3 roads still open in and out of Franklin, which is a little disconcerting since that means that over 20 roads are closed due to flooding. Toby was able to make it, however, to Home Depot this morning and buy a generator to run the sump pump in case we lose power. They were out of sump pumps, obviously, so if ours burns out we'll have to start bailing I guess.

We've lost a retaining wall in the basement, but our sump pump is holding on - so far anyway. It has run continuously for more than 24 hours, so we think there is a decent chance that it will burn out, but it has given us enough time to use the basement as a storm shelter (twice yesterday) and move important things to higher ground.

What I've learned so far -

1. Tornados used to be irritating and mildly bothersome. Tornados when you have a baby are terrifying.

2. When Toby asked me what important things need to be brought up from the basement, I couldn't think of anything - it is all just stuff.

3. They need to make miniature motorcycle helmets to put on babies during tornado warnings. I mean, if the weather people say that a motorcycle helmet is the best thing you can put on an adult's head to stay safe during a tornado, there should be a baby version.
4. I married the best man in the world, who has worked non-stop for 2 days to make sure our baby is safe.

So far we have lots of friends with completely flooded basements, our favorite jeweler (a truly nice, nice man) is under water, hundreds of people are stranded on interstates, Vanderbilt Children's Hospital is flooding and we're pretty sure that nobody in Nashville has flood insurance. Keep us all - especially the Children's Hospital - in your thoughts.