Nashville flooding

I guess my head's been the sand, but I just learned of this disaster. Worst in the city's history. Homes destroyed, 20 lives lost, and around a billion in damage. So sad. I have fond memories of the 4 years I lived in Nashville---went to med school there and fell in love with the place. I've since kept up with developments there and visited several times.

Some of the popular hang outs and watering holes downtown were damaged, not to mention the entire Opry complex. The Gaylord was evacuated and the Opry was forced to relocate to two of its former homes, the Ryman auditorium and the War Memorial Auditorium. Missing a show was not an option. The Saturday night show, the Opry's official version, has had over 4000 consecutive performances in the nearly 85 years of the Opry's history.

Here are a few local blogs:

Musings about Music City has posts here and here.

Posts at Fayfare's Opry Blog provide details about the far reaching effects of the shutdown of the entire Opry complex.

Local blogger and author Stephen Mansfield said it best:

Nashville is sophistication in denim. It is where the South meets Yankee culture with a smile and without letting go of too much. It is where the self-important never last but the art never ends. Nashville is my home. I love the accents, the heritage and the way the past calls gently through monuments and architecture to an all too unaware present. I’ve gotten use to how a road can change names three times before you get where you’re going and how the restaurant you loved last week is gone this week and how tourists think nothing of asking you if you’re somebody famous. I love Nashville.

Over this past weekend, my city drank in nearly 14 inches of rain. For perspective, the most rain she had endured at one time in all her history was just under 7. Now, much of my city is under water. There is fear and anguish, heartache and the disorientation that comes from the feeling that life is spinning out of control.

My city is going to rise.