NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — In the Inglewood neighborhood, more than three inches of rain fell in a short period of time.
Even families familiar with flooding were caught by surprise by Monday's flash flooding.
We heard from the daughter of a couple who had more than a foot of water flood their house.
This is the third time since 2010 that their property flooded.
"It was going good," said Roy Odom. "Usually, there's not that strong of a current."
Complicating things this time, Roy's wife Rita now needs an oxygen tank and other supplies to breathe.
As water flooded in, he got out what they needed and headed to higher ground.
"When I got her to the car I just backed up to the telephone pole and it just kept rising from there. I put the dogs in the backyard up on the back hill, and I had to stand out there with them because they wanted to run down and play in the flood water," Odom said.
Odom says he's been trying to sell his house for about three years.
Since at least 2017, FEMA's considered their property on Ardee Avenue along Cooper Creek to be in a flood zone.
"I thought, when they were buying the flood houses, I thought they would come down here and ask me about this house, but nobody ever came, nobody called, nothing," Odom said.
When there is funding available, Metro Nashville can remove homes prone to flooding through a home buy-out program with TEMA and FEMA. I found out who at Metro Water Services the Odoms need to email.
For now, once again, they need the community's help.
"You've got to clean up, because everything is muddy, and then you need money because it takes money to replace sockets and lights and utilities, cabinets, anything that got wet," Odom said.
Fortunately, the Odoms did not need to be rescued, however the rain kept first responders busy in the area. They pulled out a car stuck in flood water in MetroCenter, cut up eight downed trees and checked on houses in Inglewood, North Nashville and East Nashville that were surrounded by water.
Fostering Hope provides Christmas for kids in foster care. I'm delighted to see Fostering Hope expand this year to expand their reach to now include kids in Foster care in metro AND foster kids in East TN hard hit by Helene.
-Bree Smith
