Massive Flood Displaces Displaced Residents of Nashville's Tent Cities

Starting in the early hours of May 1st, 2010, Nashville, Tennessee and the surrounding areas received the first drops of rain that would soon turn into a storm for the record books. After two days of torrential rains (each day's total surpassed what the region normally receives in rainfall for an entire summer) middle Tennessee was for all intents and purposes paralyzed and underwater.

Evacuations and water rescues began in earnest on Sunday morning.  Also on Sunday morning at around 10 a.m., residents of the largest homeless encampment in Nashville Tennessee were ordered to evacuate as flood waters turned the Cumberland River into a behemoth that was laying waste to everything in its path.

A visit to what's left of the camp this morning left me thinking about what this means for the residents of this camp, of other camps in the area that were also destroyed (at least five large ones and countless smaller camps), and for our community as a whole.

More than 100 human beings in just this one camp alone suddenly lost every one of their meager possessions. When contrasted against the backdrop of devastation and human suffering the Nashville area is currently experiencing, this barely deserves a mention; a whole lotta folks lost a helluva lot more and are waking up today homeless, jobless and wondering where their next meal is coming from.

Unlike the majority of residents in Tent City however, most of those affected by the historic May floods will rebound fairly quickly, all things considered. Local, state and federal aid should begin arriving shortly for many, family and friends will pitch in for many more, and the community will join arm-in-arm with those who are struggling to lend perhaps the biggest hand this area has ever seen. And folks around here are no strangers to disasters; tornadoes have a nasty habit of zeroing in on middle Tennessee with frightening regularity . It's going to be a long, tough slog, no doubt about it, but the vast majority of Nashvillians will be back to normal in a relatively reasonable period of time, given the level of impact they have experienced.

Not so for the folks who have been flooded out of their camps. When the emergency shelters close next week and they are forced to find a new place to go, few if any of them are going to be receiving any financial assistance from insurance companies or federal disaster relief programs. There will be little left for them to receive in the way of community resources, since everyone else needs supplies and resources too. Relegated to the bottom rung of the needs ladder, having no way to travel and/or carry anything, and having nowhere to put it once they get their hands on it will keep most of those experiencing homelessness in a state of disaster similar to when the cataclysm was at its height.

Meanwhile, there are almost certainly some folks in our city who are quietly cheering the demise of this camp, as well as the others, and the dispersion of its residents as they gloat about the power of Mother Nature curing a "problem" that has been frustrating them for many months now.

My fear, which is shared by many other advocates in the area, is that instead of using this opportunity to establish a sanctioned and official Tent City, as city officials and homeless advocates have been talking about for years now, the attitude will shift to one of "homeless camp problem solved, next issue, please."

I can only hope that as Nashville rebuilds, the entire community makes a special effort to remember those who have no voice and are, for the majority of the time, all but invisible. Displaced residents of Tent Cities, alleys, overpasses and hidden sleeping spots are hurting just as bad as anyone else, yet have little or few of the resources, and perhaps more importantly, none of the hope, that gives so many others the courage to stand up, get busy, rebuild and recover, and get back to normal as quickly as possible.

Making lemonade out of lemons, I would argue that we've been given a golden opportunity to not only rebuild but to put hundreds of people back to work in the process. As we begin the long process of cleanup and reconstruction, let us include those who have for too long been forgotten. We are the only hope they have.

Photo credits: Steven Samra