Looking Back, a Decade After Nashville’s Historic Flood

How our city was changed by a once-in-a-lifetime disaster

By May 3, 2010, water had crept up Lower Broadway, covering cars and rushing into buildings, leaving the tops of street signs barely visible. With some areas completely submerged, the streets of downtown Nashville looked like murkier cousins of Venice’s canals.

On May 1-2, the Nashville area experienced an unprecedented amount of rainfall. According to the National Weather Service, the city received 13.57 inches of rain, more than doubling the two-day rainfall record established almost 31 years prior. The result was a catastrophic level of flood damage — $2.3 billion in private-property damage throughout Tennessee and Kentucky, with 11 deaths in Nashville alone and several more elsewhere in the Midstate. The Cumberland River crested at 52 feet, its various tributaries surging and sending floodwaters into neighborhoods across the city, from East Nashville to South Nashville, Belle Meade to Bordeaux.

The Schermerhorn Symphony Center’s $2.5 million pipe organ was partially submerged, and a pair of Steinway concert grand pianos were destroyed. Floodwaters overflowed a 100-year floodwall and rushed into the Grand Ole Opry House, covering the stage. The Soundcheck Nashville rehearsal and storage facility, record-and-comics store The Great Escape on Charlotte Avenue, and countless other small businesses and homes all sustained significant damage. With certain roadways completely underwater, some Nashvillians found themselves stranded. Others saw their homes completely destroyed. Every Nashvillian was affected.

Those of us who lived in Nashville at the time will never forget the incessant rains and the colossal amount of destruction brought with them. Nor will we forget the valiant volunteerism Nashvillians showcased in the days and weeks following what experts came to call a thousand-year flood — a spirit that we’ve once again seen on display in the wake of the March 3 tornado and the current fallout surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic. Those who are new to the city may not recognize the photos here — eerie and alien, they depict a Nashville we hope to never see again. But it’s a time we must never forget, and whose lessons we’ll continue to carry with us.

In this week’s issue, we look back at the 2010 flood in two parts: J.R. Lind examines how Nashville’s emergency-response efforts have evolved in the decade since the flood; and Alejandro Ramirez looks at the birth of an organization seeking to help one of Nashville’s most at-risk communities.