"the flood of the century"

This is First Avenue, which is submerged now.....

This was at 3pm. Now it's up past the top 50' mark....

River Front Park. Where did it go?

View around 6pm from my flat...

Yesterday morning, a clap of thunder woke me up at 6am and it has been raining like crazy ever since. 36,000 people in Nashville have been out of power, they are encouraging water conservation since several of the water purification plants are down, several roads and bridges have collapsed, and multiple houses and businesses are under feet upon feet of water. The shelters are over capacity.

So far there has been about 2' of rainfall and it should continue through the night. We live on the 10th floor of an old building on a hill downtown, so we aren't in jeopardy of floating away. I did check on my car, which lives in an underground garage.... and it was still there. The Cumberland River is supposed to peak by midnight, but has already began spilling onto First and Broadway. There is a measurement pole that shows the level of the river over 50' now, even though the experts predicted 48' to be the maximum.

The National Guard is here, the military is flying around with helicopters rescuing residents from flooded homes, and the Mayor has asked for federal disaster relief.

I signed up to be a Red Cross volunteer, but am not sure I would be able to get anywhere to help. My cousin said chunks of asphalt are floating on the road, I mean, it is just unreal.