Live From Nashville

Hi everyone. It was great to see the people of Nashville finally get their due. Hopefully Anderson Cooper's presence will cause other outlets to take notice and result in even more coverage. As for this post, the bullet points continue:

• Our anchor's live shot was set up in front of a furniture-strewn lawn in Bellevue. Residents are trying to air out their flooded belongings. Lives turned inside out.
  

• Anderson's piece on Danny Tomlinson, a man who has been missing since his car was swept away about five days ago, was beyond sad. I hope his family eventually gets their closure (video here).
  

• Betty Belle Nicks owns the home where Team Anderson had set up the live shot and her story is simply amazing. I figured that she was just going to talk about her house flooding, which she did, but then she went on to say that they had tried to move their cars out and ended up becoming trapped by the water. She was forced to cling to a tree before she was able to swim back. Damn. Scary!

• Betty and her husband (of only one week!) ended up on their roof with their three small dogs, but their large dog, Ben, swam away and now she's looking for him. Anderson dashed off camera to grab a picture for us. Poor Ben. People losing their animals is so upsetting.

• Betty reminded us that they're still going to need help and attention a month from now and it made my heart drop a little. Nashville had to beg for coverage at the height of the disaster. I'm not going to hold my breath for a month from now. Please prove me wrong, media.

• Anderson noted that most people in the area don't have flood insurance and then Betty said something that almost gave me chills: "Well, thanks to President Obama, who signed the relief effort, if you make sure you sign up, we will be one of the victim numbers, and when they declare our home a disaster, then we will be able to get help." Thanks to President Obama. I know, all he did was sign something and this could very well turn out to be FUBAR, but I can't even express how nice it is to feel that maybe, just maybe, competency will again one day rule the land. What a difference a vote makes.

• Apparently I couldn't pick Brad Paisley out of a lineup. I guess I'm severely lacking in country music cred. Very cool that Obama called him. More evidence that there will be no Heckuva Job Brownie incidents (video here).

• Gary Tuchman had a piece on the search-and-rescue operation and my first thought was, now Gary's in Nashville?! He's been everywhere lately. Someone is very deserving of an epic vacation. Dear Jon Klein, more reporters like Gary, less pundits, kthxbai.

• Gary also explained to us that floods aren't usually gradual. Yeah, you don't mess with that. I remember being stuck in traffic once, wondering what the hold up was, when suddenly all the cars in front of me started abruptly pulling partially off the road to turn around. I was totally confused until the car directly in front of me moved and I could see. Water. Coming quickly. As I frantically whipped my own car around, out of the corner of my eye I could see EMS workers tending to a truck that had flipped over when it tried to drive through a large flooded dip in the road. You don't mess with flash floods.

• The conversation with David and Will Perkins was very cute (video here).

• The show kept promoting the interview with Tim McGraw and Faith Hill (video here), but I thought the segments with the average Nashville residents were more compelling. Last night I sorta pre-complained about the interview. I still don't understand the focus on celebrities, but it occurs to me that I don't know anything about Nashville culture, so perhaps their public presence is a comfort to other residents. I dunno. So I'll just save my complaining for when they have on Dr. Phil again (heh).
  

• What happened to the Grand Ole Opry tour?

• The comparisons between Nashville and New Orleans in regards to cleanup made me a little uncomfortable. I was glad that Tim McGraw added a bit of context (the water stayed longer, covered a greater area). I would think it's pretty insulting to New Orleans residents to equate the two.

• The two websites mentioned on the show: TNFloodFund.com and CoolPeopleCare.org. Please help!

• That's it from me. This bullet point may be redeemed for a free snarky comment of your choice.