Initial Flood Damage Estimate Comes in at $1.5 Billion

In Nashville, the first round of flood damage cost estimates are in, and the amount is equal to the city’s annual budget.

The 1-and-a-half billion dollar figure does not include any public buildings or infrastructure like roads or bridges. It doesn’t cover any damage to the contents of buildings, either. It’s strictly the cost of repairing structural damage in roughly 80-percent of the private homes and businesses affected by the weekend’s storms.

Mayor Karl Dean declined to speculate on the ultimate total for all repairs, but emphasized that the city won’t have to bear that burden alone, thanks to federal disaster relief and private donations.

“There’s help here and more help coming and we’ll work our way through it. But we just need to take it really day by day.”

93-hundred parcels have been assessed for damage so far. Officials are making another sweep through in hopes of getting a look at buildings that were inaccessible during the first round of inspections.