Newsroom & Media Center

 

NASHVILLE – Additional Disaster Recovery Centers (DRC) are open in West and Middle Tennessee to provide assistance to people affected by the severe storms and flooding that started on April 30. This brings the total number of open DRCs to 14.

NASHVILLE – A portion of US Highway 70 in Davidson County damaged by the recent flood is now open to traffic. Clean-up and repair operations were completed this afternoon, allowing contract crews to reopen the section of US Highway 70 between Newsom Station Road and McCrory Lane in the Bellevue area of Nashville.

 

The flooding that occurred two weeks ago triggered a large slide that covered the roadway with large amounts of rock and debris. TDOT initiated an emergency contract, which was awarded to Civil Constructors on Friday, May 7, 2010. Since then, approximately 2,000 cubic yards of material has been removed from the area. New pavement and striping have also been applied to the roadway.  

 

NASHVILLE – Each year, dozens of Tennessee teens die in traffic crashes in Tennessee and many of those are not wearing safety belts. Traffic crashes are the leading cause of death for teenagers. The Governor’s Highway Safety Office wants to help save teen lives by encouraging more teens to wear their safety belts. The GHSO is partnering with State Farm Insurance, Community Anti-Drug Coalitions Across Tennessee (CADCAT) and three Tennessee high schools to launch a pilot program called Click It AND Ticket. During the program, volunteers will conduct seat belt observations at the schools and students or parents wearing their safety belts will be given a ticket to enter into a drawing to win a prize. The penalty for not wearing a safety belt in Tennessee is $10, so volunteers will draw ten tickets and award $10 gift cards to ten students.  In addition, one student from each school will win a $100 gift card.

 

NASHVILLE - Working as debris-removal teams, Tennessee National Guard soldiers from Paris and Union City have been assisting Cheatham County in cleaning up massive amounts of damaged property and trash left in the wake of the severe flooding the county experienced.

 

Armed with dump trucks and front-end loaders, soldiers from the 913th and 212th Engineer Companies have been hard at work clearing away the debris left in the wake of what some officials are now calling the thousand-year flood.  

 

"We are here to do whatevers needed to help get the community back in shape," said 2nd Lt. James Clark, a platoon leader from Union City. "They suffered a lot of damage."

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency (TEMA) today announced an online hub for collaborative information-sharing through Facebook for the response and recovery to severe weather and flooding in Tennessee.

 

The webpage, www.facebook.com/TNDisasterInfo hosts an online community where those affected by the disaster and those active in the response can share information. FEMA and TEMA, as well as their federal, state, and local and voluntary agency partners are posting recovery tips and updates, including shelter locations and details on how to access disaster assistance. FEMA and TEMA will also upload videos and photos from the affected area.

 

 

NASHVILLE - A tremendous cleanup effort is underway throughout much of Tennessee in the wake of this month’s severe storms and flooding. Kevin Brown, State Conservationist for the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in Tennessee, says Emergency Watershed Protection (EWP) funding is possible for the dozens of Tennessee counties declared federal disaster areas.

NASHVILLE - “The next time you wonder what plants to use in your landscaping, take a hike,” says Andy Sudbrock, owner of Nashville Natives in Fairview, a plant nursery specializing in plants native to Tennessee, including wildflowers, ferns, grasses, aquatic plants, trees and shrubs.

 

“The flowering vines, bushes, trees and other attractive plants you’ll find along wooded trails, in open glades and beside rivers and ponds are there because they’ve spent thousands of years thriving in Tennessee’s climate,” says Sudbrock. “If they do well all on their own, imagine how great they’ll look as pampered plants around your home.”