The Sunday that will live forever

I know many people saw this weekend going much differently in their minds, and without question, this weekend will never be forgotten.  After getting Adam as situated as we could with his house flooding last night, I finally made it home, and waited to see what today would bring us. Lunchtime found my good friend and Homeowners Association President DJ Farris and I fighting a flooding problem with a squeegee at another building in our complex. As we drove out to assess the damage around Bellevue, we heard on the radio that they needed a lot of help and boats at the River Plantation Townhomes, as there were still a lot of people trapped.  So we headed that way, just a 3 minute drive from our place. coincedentally I got there at the same time as another good friend of mine, Austin Pennington. He was there looking for a friend who was stranded, and within a few minutes, we were on a War Eagle Duck boat, driven by Hal, the new River Captain of Bellevue. From 2pm until total darkness, we were rescuing people, dogs, cats, some belongings, expensive horse saddles, etc. Hal handled the boat like a champ, and the three of us did all the swimming and navigating through completely flooded homes to get to people who were stranded.

It is a very eery feeling when you have to swim over a car that is completely submerged, and grab onto the top of a street light when you are caught in a raging current. An even worse feeling is when you finally push a door open that is held shut by 5 feet of water, and make your way into someone’s home, looking at all of their belongings just floating around, even couches and refridgerators. The only good feeling to come out of something like that is knowing that the residents are now safe.  My sincerest thoughts and prayers go out to all residents of Bellevue and the entire middle Tennessee in this time of tragedy.

I am very confident that without the help of all the volunteers that showed up today, there would still be people stranded in those townhomes. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Hal, who can handle a boat like no other, DJ, who is a natural Rescue Tech, especially when it comes to animals, He and Minnie the cat got acquainted before dark,  and Austin, who I was obviously meant to spend a Sunday afternoon with swimming from garage to garage, looking for those who needed help.  Great job everyone, and remember, there is nothing stronger than the heart of a volunteer.

Please pray for everyone in the mid-state, as we recover from this historic tragedy.

-Braton