Most of the US is focused right now on hurricane devastation in Louisiana, and rightly so, but there have been other incidents of flooding that have befallen people in other parts of the country of late as well. Areas surrounding Nashville and parts of middle Tennessee saw torrential rainfall the weekend before last which has affected a number of folks in our bluegrass community.
Noted singer and songwriter Daryl Mosley is one such who, while he was spared the direct results of the flooding, has seen great loss in Humphreys County, where his hometown of Waverly is located. Mosley is the Director of the local Chamber of Commerce there, the town about which so many of his songs have been written. He asked us to alert everyone to a fundraiser being hosted on Facebook for the many people there whose homes were washed away.
Daryl offers a brief rundown of the remarkably high rainfall they experienced on August 21.
“Trace Creek runs parallel with Main Street/Highway 70 in Waverly. We saw something like 17 inches of rain there early Saturday morning, which is about 25% of our annual rainfall. When the water finally left the banks, it was moving so fast and got so deep so quickly that it was hard for anyone to react. My mother made it across the street to my sister’s house, and they went next door to a neighbor who had a second story. They made it there with about five minutes to spare. We are blessed that they are safe although their homes were completely destroyed. There are a lot of other people who were not so fortunate.
As of today we have about 22 people confirmed dead, and still a dozen or so more unaccounted for. That number would have been much worse had it not been for locals in their fishing boats and jet skis who risked their own lives to help. They are being called the ‘Redneck Navy,’ and these guys saved dozens of people from the water before it was too late. Roughly 120 homes were completely destroyed, deemed unliveable, or simply gone. The aftermath is almost hurricane-like with the damage, the mud, and the destruction.
We’ve had a wonderful outpouring of volunteers to help look for those missing and to help with the cleanup and salvage, but there’s going to be such a need long-term both in manpower and financially.
There is a fund set up to help because so many of these people had no flood insurance.”
The relief fund Daryl mentions is the Humphreys County Flood Relief Fund, to be administered by United Way of Humphreys County, TN. Donations can be made on Facebook, and Facebook pays the fees associated with collecting contributions so all funds raised can go straight to those in need. They hope to collect $300,000 they can dispense, and are about 2/3 of the way there.
All donations will be gratefully received.
