HARDIN COUNTY, Tenn. — From the sky you can really see it, the devastation caused by flooding across Hardin County with the Tennessee River 25 feet above flood stage.
One of the homes affected belongs to Freeds Eaves.
“I don’t know if I have anything left. All I can see is the top of my pavilion, so I don’t know if I have anything,” she said.
Uncertainty is flooding this community just like the water covering homes and streets. People who live here say the Tennessee Valley Authority did warn them about the river rising, but it underestimated the level.
“A lot of people said, well, they’re not gonna move out,” resident Paul Jaggars said.
Officials say about 1,000 homes are affected.
“There will be a lot of total loss homes in the area,” Chief Melvin Martin, with Hardin County Fire and Emergency MGMT, said. “There is some good news here in Savannah. The river is starting to recede. You can see how much it’s gone down just throughout the course of today.”
And over at Mollie Monday’s restaurant, they’re doing their best to help.
“On Saturday the RC called and asked could we help provide meals. We told them of course,” co-owner Patty Martin said. “We’re a small town but when something happens, a disaster, we all fall together.”
Eaves finds comfort spending time at the restaurant, but she’s worried. “I worked hard to make it the place I’ve got. It just hurts.”
She has no idea what she’ll have left.
Hardin County Schools are closed all this week. But officials say they do believe they’ll reopen Monday. There are also 105 roads closed due to flooding.
