THE FLOOD OF 1979

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In May 1979 I was working at Colonial Baking on Franklin Rd. It had been raining hard for several days without let-up when I headed home one night driving on I-24 East toward my house in Murfreesboro. When I topped the hill overlooking the valley near Bell Road exit I was caught up in a massive traffic jam. It was raining so hard that I couldn't tell what was going on so I stepped out of the car and realized that I was surrounded by roaring flood water. The sound was so loud I felt like I was standing next to Niagara Falls. The only thing that was above water was the pavement of the interstate. I got back into the car for a few minutes trying to decide what I should do. When I opened my car door again water was swirling around my feet. I decided to abandon my car and head for high ground. I only had that car for three days and it was one of the best used cars I had ever owned. As I was climbing the hill I could see houses down in the valley with furniture floating around inside. I tried to stop oncoming traffic but people kept driving into the traffic jam. Finally I was able to stop one man who offered me a ride. He also lived in Rutherford county and it took us about 2 hours to get around the flood waters and get home. When I located my car at a wrecker service the next day I was told that they found it upside down in the median and it had been under 10 foot of water. The picture on the front page of the paper is where I lost my car. The truck drivers were rescued the next morning by helicopter sitting on the top of their rigs.
 

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