Monday May 10, Clarksville TN to Milan TN
Weather forecast, both last night and this morning, indicate rain that will blow through by early afternoon. Well, I waited until about 3 in the afternoon for the rain to blow over, but it never really did. I finally decided to take off during a lull between raining sessions.
I began to note lots of high-water indications well before i got close to Clarksville. The flowing streams are still very full, the gully that drains rain down from the hills are washed out. Water marks in the trees way above where limbs and leaves start to grow. Standing water in most fields and the edges of the roads are washed out and damaged.
Lots of high-water indications all around this town, with some major streets still closed. Lots of damage, too.
I take TN 13 kind of South and West. Not much rain right after I start, but get more rain as I travel. Now I’m seeing more and more flooding damage along the stream that is beside the road. The streams are so small that they don’t show on my maps. Even lots of debris washed down from the hills in the gullies that usually drain rain water.
I get to Erin TN, a piece of Ireland in Tennessee, and find the town basically in ruins. It’s a very small place, but houses, and other buildings, have been wiped out. Houses that were flooded but not broken up have the contents out in the yard. There’s. Large boat jammed against the side of a bridge. A service station, at which I was banking on finding for desperately-needed gas, is ruined. As I travel on down TN 13, the damages increase. Bridges. Houses, buildings, cars, farm land, everything along the stream has been hit. Even houses on the other side of the road from the stream have been wiped out by water flowing down off the hills. It’s a tragedy. While it seem that Nashville is getting all the attention, there are major problems well away from there.
I pick up US 70 / 79 at Waverly, the road I intend to take into Memphis. I stop here in Milan to let the last of the rains blow through. I picked a cheap-looking place, one of two motels in town, both cheap-looking.
It was a very short riding day.
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