CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. - For one Clarksville neighborhood Tuesday was the calm after the chaos.
A truck collided with a fire hydrant Monday on Pembroke Road and an entire block struggled to keep its head above water.
Literally.
With the open hydrant water rushed toward nearby homes.
“I went in here as soon as it started,” said homeowner Rich Garrett, walking into his shed and grabbing his snow shovels.
With the help of neighbors he got to work digging out water headed for his garage.
“I just took my shoes off and got out and ran over and we just started pushing the water out as fast as we could,” said next door neighbor Will Miller.
Rich is no stranger to floods. He’s lived in his home since 1992.
“I’ve been flooded twice already,” he said.
But it's usually from the sky, not the ground where someone can stop it.
So Rich took a big risk.
“I just took off running to be honest with you,” he said.
Armed only with a patio table, the Fort Campbell veteran went to the source, trying to divert the water to a nearby drain.
But it was deep. And fast. And he went under, slamming his head into the mud.
“I was disoriented and I was flashing and flapping and trying to get out,” he said.
Maybe it was a miracle the officer who responded to the crash was still speaking to the driver involved.
“All I could feel was his hand grabbing me by my shirt and pulling me up,” Rich said.
Alive, but embarrassed, his friends laughed because he can't even swim.
“They said who would fall in the water??” Rich said.
What could've been a tragedy turned into just a good story.
“He came in and he had mud on his face and he was wet from top to bottom we thought it was funny,” laughed Miller.
And as the flood waters recede Rich reflects on both the chaos of Monday and the calm of Tuesday.
“I’m thankful to God for just being here today,” he said.
One of the pipes was broken into shards under the water. He knows if his head has slammed into it, he might not be alive to talk about what happened.
