A truck stop near downtown Nashville stands flooded in early May, 2010. WPLN Archive / Daniel Potter
Amid reports of Hurricane Sandy’s aftermath in the northeast, Nashville officials are unveiling specific ways the city could prepare for a future flood. Tonight they’ll reveal the shortlist of potential plans for areas around Nashville wracked by deadly flooding in 2010.
Metro Water officials are careful to say this isn’t so much a plan as a catalog of possibilities; which ones actually happen will hinge on funding.
“An easy one to visualize would be a flood-protection wall or a levy-type structure downtown. I think everyone can visualize that.”
Metro Water Director Scott Potter explains it’s something the city has been working on since the historic flood two and a half years ago. The idea is to have Nashville’s homework ready, for when chances come up to nab federal money. Some projects, like levees and floodwalls, could cost tens of millions to build.
Others are well underway, like a warning system, and buyouts to get a couple hundred homes out of the way of another flood.
“If a home isn’t in the floodway, as an example, the most dangerous part of a flood, then you don’t have citizens in that home that have to be rescued.”
When asked if it’s worth it to prepare for a rare disaster that just happened, Potter pointed to the freak storm that just smashed New York and New Jersey, saying there’s no way to predict the weather.
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Tonight’s meeting is set for 6 o’clock at McGavock High School. Two follow-ups are also scheduled to share findings for the flood-preparedness plan:
Monday, Nov. 5 – 6 to 7 p.m.
McGavock High School cafeteria
3150 McGavock Pike
Nashville, TN 37214
Thursday, Nov. 8 – 6 to 7 p.m.
Bellevue Family YMCA
Brown/Davis Room
8101 Highway 100
Nashville, TN 37221
Tuesday, Nov. 13 – 6 to 7 p.m.
Looby Community Center
2301 Metro Center Blvd.
Nashville, TN 37228
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