Madelyn Odem covers recovered belongings with a tarp in the front yard of a home as part of a volunteer relief effort to help those displaced by a recent flash flood in Sandy Hook, Tenn., on Saturday, Sept. 20, 2020. (Mike Christen / The Daily Herald)
When the Water Recedes
Everything changed within a matter of minutes.
After a fairly calm but stormy Sunday morning, the residents of Tennessee’s Sandy Hook community said it only took minutes for a rush of water to flood their homes. A surge of water rushed in from the direction of a nearby creek, flooding into the homes of young families, a local school bus driver and a recent California transplant among many others. In total, about 40 households were impacted.
The Maury County Fire Department rescued at least 24 people who were caught in rising floodwaters. Some emergency responders walked half a mile through floodwaters to evacuate a family from a flooded home.
“You are helpless," said Eddie Ceyrolles, who owns a home along Lawrenceburg Highway with his wife and two children. "I have never seen something like this in my life.”
Radar estimates from the National Weather Service indicate that six inches of rain fell on the region within a matter of hours, a Nashville-based meteorologist told The Daily Herald.
Jennifer Rodriguez left her home in waist-deep water carrying a backpack and her two dogs. By Monday evening, the flood waters were gone, leaving the floors of her newly purchased, recently renovated home covered in mud and trash.
“We barely made it out,” Rodriguez said, as she continued the slow process of cleaning a thick layer of mud off of her home’s hardwood floor.
"The house I could care less about," Rodriguez continued. "The house I could care less about. I lost my chickens. They drowned. You put your heart and soul into something, and it is washed out in one day."
In the days following the disaster, the community began to rally. The homes of unaffected neighbors became make-shift aid centers as donations and volunteers gathered to begin the cleanup process without formal government support.
