NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — For as far as the eye can see, the banks of Mill Creek in South Nashville are filled with trash bags, cups, napkins, paper towels and other litter. More than 50 Hands On Nashville volunteers came out Friday to begin the process of cleaning up.
"Well I’m a neighbor, this is my park," said Mike Muldoon, a Hands On Nashville volunteer.
"You can see how high that water must have been because how high that trash is in the trees," said Jackie Shamblin, another volunteer.
Metro Councilwoman Ginny Welsch says she believes it was a restaurant supply company upstream that flooded and that all of their supplies ended up in Whitsett Park and along Mill Creek. If that can be confirmed, she wants to hold them accountable.
"Hopefully we’ll be able to identify them and get them to pay for the cleanup or at least participate in the cleanup," said the District 16 councilwoman.
Whether or not that actually happens, it will be a Herculean task to get all of this cleaned up.
"It goes way, way upstream and there’s the other side of the banks. There’s a lot," said Welsch.
Organizers expect the process to take multiple crews, several days to get things back to normal. The volunteers NewsChannel 5 spoke to were grateful to be a part of the solution.
"It’s a big mess but we’re going to try to see what we can do to clean it up," said Shamblin.
"How can you not? It’s our human nature, right? To be human and kind," said Colleen Reem.
If you'd like to volunteer with Hands On Nashville's flood recovery efforts, click here.
