Tennessee Floods
It doesn’t happen this way.

We live in a beautiful part of Tennessee in the country outside of Nashville. We’ve canoed and swam in the Harpeth River adjacent to our neighborhood. The water level “was not” a threat to us. Because most houses here are not even close to the 100-year flood plain, very few people had flood insurance. In addition, according to The National Association of Insurance Commissioners, 33 percent of U.S. heads of household still hold the false belief that flood damage is covered by a standard homeowners policy. (For an interesting explanation of the 100-year flood plain, try this link.

Most of the people flooded this week would not be considered foolish for not having flood insurance. They were just too far from the rivers to consider it a significant risk.

And so it’s heartbreaking to be working this week with neighbors and friends who have lost much, if not everything, and with no insurance to help with the losses.

We will have articles in the future with ‘lessons learned’. But today, 2 days after the flood, here are some things to consider:

If you think your homeowner’s policy covers a flood, think again. Check with your agent and then decide what is prudent. It could still be a tough call. Do you pay for flood insurance when the chances are 1 in a 100? What about 1 in 1000? It’s hard to know. Here is a link about insurance issues:

Water is critical and scarce in any disaster, and it’s not expensive to store. You don’t need to be in a flood plain or earthquake region to store extra water. Any public water supply can be impacted at any time. Do you have some stored? Check out this article for information on the water supplies in Nashville today.

The latest issue of the Disaster Resource GUIDE, mailed last week, is all about Crisis Communications and Disaster Response. We hope you will check it out. Have you made arrangements with a restoration vendor in advance to both mitigate and preplan in the event of a disaster? Tree removal companies are swamped. When a disaster happens, all the local stores run out of disaster equipment!

In the event of any type of disaster, do you know where shelters are located? Has your community, your neighborhood, your workplace addressed this issue, IN ADVANCE? If we wait until something happens, its unreasonable to expect the feds to jump in and solve this problem. Check out the map being used in Nashville to help people find resources.

Have you collected resources and information so they are quickly available in the event of a disaster? The web offers incredible resources. Don’t wait until an event to find them! Here is an example for homeowners.

Have you trained a Community Emergency Response Team (CERT)? Do team members have CERT kits? Don’t wait!

For 15+ years the Disaster Resource GUIDE has been helping families, communities, businesses and government agencies prepare, so they can keep going no matter what.

Is your plan complete? Have you reviewed it lately?

Kathy and Tommy Rainey
Publishers
Disaster Resource GUIDE
Continuity e-GUIDE