Country music luminaries raised $1.5 million in donations with a weekend telethon to help Tennessee recover from this month's 500-year flood. Governor Phil Bredesen says damages should easily top $1 billion, with Nashville alone looking at $1.5 billion. At least 30 people were killed. The folks left with the cleanup say they get the sense the world has forgotten them.
Eric Normand of Pegram, Tenn., sends these pictures (send more stuff!) and writes:
On May 1, 2010, a record rainfall of 12 to 20 inches in 36 hours fell upon the state of Tennessee, creating one of the worst flooding disasters in our nation's history. Dozens of people died and billions of dollars of damage were sustained to homes, businesses, and infrastructure across the state (42 of our 95 counties have already been declared federal disaster areas). Thousands have lost their homes and jobs. The government reacted swiftly, and a massive volunteer effort engaged quickly as well. But more than two weeks later, there are still people who have not received help in remote communities.
The minimal national news coverage we have received has been mostly centered on Nashville, creating an inaccurate, minimized public perception. The totality of losses are still unknown as even the local media has been unable to investigate and cover devastation that occurred in many poor, isolated communities throughout the state. As a resident of middle Tennessee, I, as well as many others, feel slighted by the media. The failure to provide appropriate media coverage of this still pending disaster is perhaps a reason why some have still not received any help, and this is unacceptable.
Leave a Comment:
Evidently, we view this as the purview of the National Guard, FEMA, and the Department of Homeland Security. Anyway, we've been very busy at anti-government protests.
Fema, Tema , TN gov......
people..........have all been responsive .....efficiently, and with care.
The MSM has indeed forgotten Tennessee's floods. There is no coverage to speak of today. We have an unbelievably small attention span. This is the most current story I could find on Google: http://edition.cnn.com/2010/US/05/09/tennessee.floods/
Although this disaster is non-existent in the MSM, it’s still unfolding, and its total impact still unknown. This story aired yesterday and tells of horse deaths due to eating hay contaminated by floodwaters. This story shows a section of highway the length of three football fields that collapsed from floodwaters. There's still a need for this disaster to receive media coverage.
Although this story is non-existent in the media, it’s still unfolding, and its total impact still unknown. A story aired yesterday telling of horse deaths due to eating hay contaminated by floodwaters. Another shows a section of highway the length of three football fields that collapsed from floodwaters. I just spoke with a woman who lost her house, and she and her family are now staying with a neighbor until they figure out what to do. There's still a need for this disaster to receive media coverage.
If anyone is interested in seeing day-to-day information about what people are going through in Tennessee, I urge you to view any one of the several Facebook pages about the flood....I survived the great Tennessee flood of 2010 or I survived the great Nashville monsoon of May 1st
We feel forgotten. Our family lost 3 homes, my daughter's, my sister's, and my own. My daughter was rescued from her roof after being up there for 4 hours. If it were just one home, we would, as a family, be rebuilding with ease...but this is a tremendous weight on our average middle class family. Like Eric writes, every day is a new heartbreaking local story, but the larger networks hardly have a thing to say. And, where is all the money going that is being raised? I have to go by the church today to get some toilet paper...
I don't understand how the statewide devastation of TN can merit so little media coverage. What is going on???
Where is the coverage on his catastrophe?
The lack of overall coverage speaks volumes about the MSM. Perhaps grass roots journalism from ordinary people is our only hope.
I'd like to see more coverage of this flood with links to reports of other unprecedented flooding events throughout the country.
We just had two once in 50 year floods in Massachusetts, two weeks apart.
I guess we don't have to worry about any more floods for another 100 years?
Or is there a fundamental shift in our climate that is causing these types of events to increase in frequency?
For more information about the connection of the TN flood and other recent flooding events, there is a wealth of information at http://climateprogress.org/. I was asked to submit a report, which they published on the site, regarding the TN flood. In the weeks to come they will be posting a series of articles exploring the link between recent extreme precipitation events and goal warming.