Bellevue Community meeting

Our community meeting about flood clean-up and other information was held last night at Bellevue MS. The gymnasium was packed and then some. An estimate given during the evening was over 1,000. Principal Hargis is to be commended for all the work and organizing she has done from the school site.

The meeting was very upbeat and cordial (except when someone mentioned insurance companies). I took lots of notes and here is some of it (not necessarily in order of presentation). With communication systems being down and many people concentrating on clearing out their houses many were not aware of what was happening elsewhere or what is now available to aid them.

Water restriction has been removed. We can now do lots of laundry. They said that not me :)

AT&T - cells #'s now up and running. Land lines still being worked on.

Comcast 244-5900 or 1800comcast. -
free service currently available at the community center from noon till 8.00 p.m.
Free reconnection for existing customers.

NES 234-0000 (without power) 736-6900 for everything else.
 If flood waters came above the meter get a licensed electrician to look at it and get a codes release.
Fees for turn on, reconnection and transfer are being waived (amongst others).
You will need a codes inspection

Metro & electrical codes. www.nashville.gov
Permit fees are being waived. If you have been charged you will get a refund.
Permit issuers will be in the area this week.
Anything under water needs to be checked and probably replaced, i.e. receptacles, wiring, switches.
Err on the side of caution.
Disconnect wiring from panel and check from receptacle to receptacle.
Firewalls, where possible, should be replaced with 5/8" board on both sides of shared walls.

Police - got a standing ovation and rightly so.
If you see anything suspicious call them .
Conducting field interviews.
Be sensible about your personal and home security. Chain down your generators :)

Piedmont Gas 1800-752-7504 - VERY IMPORTANT  safety advice.
Have your gas turned off as a preventative measure.
Do nor re-light gas yourself.
Contact 1800-752-7504 to have meter & appliances looked at. They will tag what needs replaced.
Do not clear debris from your meter.
Do not make repairs or allow unauthorized individuals to do so. Voids warranty.
Next 2 months - waiving late payments, insufficient funds charges, modifying equal payment plan, waiving disconnect/reconnect fees. No disconnects will be done because of non payment.
All natural gas appliances/meters that have been submerged need to be replaced. Piedmont will not turn on the pilot light to any flooded items unless already cleared by them.

Public works - call center 311 with any questions.
flood trash is being picked up and will be done in stages. 533 s. miles to cover so please be patient.
Put disaster debris close to the street in their 4 recommended stacks. The very large trucks have to be on pavement.
River Plantation will be hardest to deal with due to the alleys but smaller trucks will be used.
All debris is being sent to Murfreesboro.
Waiving drop off fees for private citizens taking items to the dumps (this week). Maximum of 3 visits per day.

Health dept. 340-5653 -
free tetanus shots service winding down. Reps in the area talking with people.
MOULD should not be a big issue for anything water submerged for less than 3 to 4 days.
Pull out everything that is wet, dry the house out THEN use a 1to10 bleach/water solution. Do not spry use a mop.
Keep windows and doors open for ventilation
Use fans to speed up the drying process.
Mosquitos and other pests are not an issue at the moment and are being monitored.
Observe basic hygeine i.e. wash hands before eating if you have been doing demo work.
Wear masks and gloves.
Use a de-humidifier in crawl spaces.

IRS - 1800- 829-1040 and www.irs.gov
Look at the website for information about amending tax returns for casualty loss deductions.
Talk with an IRS enroll agent, CPA or attorney.
Looking at setting up tax sessions at BMS in a month if there is a need for that.
Make a spread sheet showing item, what paid, worth day before flood, worth now, difference.
IRS will NOT do replacement costs.
If your paperwork has been lost in the flood IRS has copies of previous years.

Assessors Office - nashville.gov.
2010 property tax bill will be adjusted for balance of year IF home rendered unfit to live in or devalued by more than 50% OR if not replaced or restored by September 1st.
Property request forms will be available by June 1st. 862-6080.
Similar process being done for businesses.

FEMA 1800-621-FEMA (3362) or www.fema.gov
1. Start the paperwork even if you are not sure you qualify.
2. Register with Small Business Administration
3. Disaster information and forms at the community center.
FEMA and Codes will look at structures.

Small Business Administration - long term recovery agency. 1800- 659 2955 and www.sba.gov
Loans up to $200,000 at 2.75% interest over 30 years are available.
Up to $40,000 for personal property to property owners and renters.
Business Loan program also available up to $2m, 4% over 30 years.
Relocation plan available
Refinancing for prior existing debt (limited and will talk with people individually) 2.75% interest.
Assistant programs available to stay eligible.
Estimates for loans will be based on the cost of re-building.

We were also given handouts related specifically to Bellevue, flood information,  Casualty Loss information,  and applying for disaster assistance. Tips given for avoiding home repair rip-off  I will do in another posting.

Contact the agencies with questions about your specific needs. Anyone with special needs/disabilities should call 862-6000.

This to that and maybe back again

This is our normal stream bed and the pile is what was pulled out of the house basement at the entrance to our sub-division

This is another part of the stream further down the road and part of what happened to the least hit hard section of the street it helped to flood.

All of these photographs were taken early this morning. I have chosen not to take photographs of the worst affected areas of town. Too challenging, plus I want to be respectful of the many serious loses that have been suffered.

We are on temporary phone services. When I started out on my walk this one was in place. When I returned they had just switched shifts and another one was in place. Each unit is manned.

Other utility workers arriving to set things in motion for the day at the "lighter" damaged end of Sawyer Brown.
This has been a week of contrasts.
Thankful that we did nor receive serious damage and were available to be out in the community to help wherever needed. Sorrow at the devastation and loss to so many people.
Grateful that few people died but also mindful of the many who knew those that did.
Grateful that so many people came to help save what they could in quick fashion. Thankful for their up-beat attitudes as they got mucky, and stinky and provided relief.
Haunted by the look in the eyes of an elderly gentleman sitting on his porch with nothing left.
Thankful for wonderful weather that is aiding the cleanup.
Awed by what I saw as I did delivery runs round 3 or 4 areas of our town and saw the magnitude of the tasks ahead.
One of the questions asked a lot over the past few days by puzzled people. "How did it manage to happen so fast? It did not look like much was going to happen then all of a sudden water everywhere."
The whole experience will teach us all how to be effectively prepared for disasters, big or small, that's for sure. The realities as opposed to the theory. What areas we each need to better prepare in, what we are already doing fine with. Will it change our perspectives towards self and others, or will we return to what we were before (whatever that was.)

It takes a village and a variety of tasks

Some of the recurring statements I've been hearing this week as clean up starts from the flooding are
"I wish I could do more"
"I feel bad because I am not available to do much"
"I'm not strong enough to do heavy lifting"
"I don't know where to start"
"What can I do to help"
"When can I help"
"Where can I help."

A town crisis and recovery is not all about the hefting, shoveling, muscle bound things.
The "elephant" has many parts -
preparing and/or delivering food
baby-sitting for others
creative communications when the regular is not available
organizing work parties
hugging people
holding hands
letting people cry
cracking appropriate jokes to alleviate tension
having a listening and non-judgmental ear
cooperating with authorities in charge
preparing stacks for trash pick-up
doing laundry for others
opening up your home to house people
watching traffic patterns
slowing your life down i.e. having and exerting patience
taking in other families pets
finding out about and making donations as needed
helping devastated individuals make lists to organize their thoughts for their daily activities
a lot of children do not grasp what is happening or are taking it in their stride don't stress them out.

One of the girls visiting our house yesterday said matter of factly "We are going to grandma's. There's a hole in our living room floor, it's ridiculous" :) (Their house is getting wrapped).

Live your lives as normally as you can. Your assistance might be needed further down the road. It takes time for all the dust to settle so to speak. I overheard someone saying "we learned a lot from Hurricane Katrina it's helping us here."

The school bus drivers are going to be checking routes this week-end.

From our garden today :)

On the crest of a wave

Okay so I'm just being whimsical here :) All our streams and rivers are cresting (and then some) and the Cumberland river in downtown is now at flood stage. We have had water going up and down depending upon the rain but our neighbors are flooded. Parts of our town have been evacuated.

Weather update

We are being told this is the worst spring storm in many years (1979) with more to come. Some of the highways and interstates are closed in areas. 24W/Bell is flooded both sides, 24E/Briley Parkway is flooded. Smyrna and  Mt. Juliet areas are flooded. There are many cars and trucks stuck in water some completely submerged. Others are floating along upside down. There was a mobile home floating down 24W/Bell (from Lighthouse Christian School) that is now totalled. Basically there is a river running down the highway.

Flash flooding strikes.

So we have had steady, heavy rain all day (about 10") and all of a sudden a flash flood. Camera in hand we went for a walk down our street. I continued out of the subdivision. This is some of what we saw. The tornado alarms went off while I was talking with a neighbor so needless to say I jogged on up the hill.

The joys of stormy weather

There was a lot of weather through the area over the weekend. Fortunately for us we just got lots of rain. The photos show what our yard was looking like after about an hour of downpour. Most of it was gone by later in the day. We've had worse.

The end of our yard. The storm ditch is full and starting to overflow.

We are on a hill so everything flows down and ends up in the two creeks.

Our back yard drainage system at work. Who needs a pool :) We do have to re-surface the blacktop at some point.

The story of two volcanos

Mmmmm. Iceland and Chile are quite a distance apart but both had volcanic activity that has impacted many people. My nephew (safe) is serving a mission in Santiago which is north of the Chilean eruption. That particular volcano had been dormant for about 9,000 years before it erupted last year. Some photographs taken then are quite awe inspiring. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-563975/Amazing-pictures-The-lightning-storm-engulfed-erupting-volcano.html

The Icelandic eruption hit a bit closer to home as John arrived with 3 Dutch participants from the convention he had been at in Atlanta. Like many travelers they were stranded till flights could be arranged. Originally they had managed to find a flight out of Nashville for this coming Sunday but John was able to find something on Wednesday and after some scurrying around to get ready they were off. We enjoyed having them stay with us but I am sure they are more than happy to be back home.

Photograph taken by O. Eggertsson showing the Icelandic eruption.
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/04/more_from_eyjafjallajokull.html

We took our visitors to Oprymills and showed them Opryland at night which is quite lovely even without all the Christmas decorations. Kris and I are going to return during summer break with our cameras and takes lots of photographs. They also drove around parts of Nashville and Bellevue on their own and we made an emergency trip to the walk in clinic.

The pollen is quite extensive this year. Nik's doctor has put him on allergy medicine and has seen a lot of children that are not usually impacted. Even with my medication I've been feeling somewhat "foggy" in the brain :0 (Does not make for good hostess interaction). I wiped down the book case in the sunroom yesterday and the dust was yellow !!!!!!! Last week I had to hose down the van.
We are making progress with scraping down the next set of shutters on the front of the house. They are a bit more fragile than the last set so we will have to be really careful when we take the sander to them.

The Music City Marathon is on this weekend. John has volunteered at it almost every year it has been in operation. The rest of us were supposed to be participating in a regional church event, part of it in conjunction with the Methodist church, but as of this afternoon that has had to be postponed.

Slooooooow progress

Almost everything in the left hand lower bed was supposed to have been dug up by now and some of the plants moved into the right hand bed. We are having temps in the mid to high 80's so I for one can only stand to dig in the dirt either early morning or early evening. I do have a temporary "Lucy proof" scheme in place on the new flower bed. Now she just rolls around in the plants that need dug up. BIG SIGH :)

Ground cover

Some of our ground cover is in bloom and we have not finished cleaning up the winter mess yet :)

Looks like this one has decided to grow up our side fence and wall instead of across the ground like the rest of it's buddies.

Gotcha

So I transplanted plants last week to our old vegetable bed and came home one day to discover big holes. We have decided to do-over and put the grids back down. The plants are dug back up and waiting in pots. John bought topsoil today (the bags say top soil but it looks suspiciously like mulch to me). So what happens. Luuuuuucy get away from there !!!!!!! Aaaaargh !!!!!! We shall see how things go once we have finished the project.