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Nashville’s 2010 floodPhoto: Eric England
The flash flooding around Nashville late last month didn’t leave as strong an impression as the historic widespread flooding of May 2010. There were fewer indelible images of submerged landmarks, fewer national news hits.
But in some areas of the city, the deluge in 2021 was even worse than 2010, and some people are still trying to dig out.
At Lesby and Roberto’s home along Nolensville Road, the rainwater flowed “like a river,” Roberto remembers. The couple’s home — which they rent and share with Lesby’s sister, brother-in-law and three kids between the two couples — sits in a low-lying area between the busy South Nashville thoroughfare and a small tributary of Sevenmile Creek. Water from the nearby stream gushed into their home; weeks later, mud still cakes the floor, kitchen tiles buckled from the rising water. Roberto points out shopping carts and other debris left beneath a bridge by the storm, worried the blockage could exacerbate future rains. Though the Honduran couple are undocumented, they weren’t shy about sharing their story via an interpreter, though we’re leaving out their surnames.