NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Five years after unprecedented flooding struck Middle Tennessee some homeowners were still living in limbo and in fear that it could happen again.
Cindy Kaatz lost nearly everything she owned after a swollen Mill Creek crept into her Antioch mobile home on May 3, 2010.
“My daughter and I still have nightmares, we still have them," she recalled Sunday. "It’s scary at times especially when the rains are heavy.”
Cindy and her husband Scott still hadn’t finished repairing damage caused by the floods. FEMA provided $20,000 for repairs, but without flood insurance the burden of fixing their home was placed firmly on their shoulders.
”It’s tedious, it gets frustrating, sometimes you cry," she said. "It’ll be over one day.”
The floods killed nearly two dozen people and caused billions in damages, more than $2 billion in Nashville alone.
Some 17 inches of rain came down in Middle and West Tennessee, dumping 13 inches in 36 hours.
Before it was all said and done, the Cumberland River swelled to almost 52 feet, 12 feet more than flood stage.
The flood claimed the lives of 24 people in Tennessee – 11 of the deaths occurred in Davidson County.
