NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — A homeless advocate group is mourning the loss of the flooding victims over the weekend. Open Table Nashville said they know at least two unhoused friends who died, and said they only wish they could've done more.
Open Table Nashville said many of those who were living in camps that were flooded lost everything – from any of their possessions, supplies and even their pets.
The group has spent the last two days visiting encampments, distributing supplies and organizing emergency shelter for their unhoused friends who’ve been impacted by this weekend’s floods -- particularly those in the Mill Creek and Seven Mile Creek areas.
Authorities said this weekend’s flooding claimed the lives of four Davidson County residents, two of which Open Table Nashville knew, including 64-year-old Frederick Richards. Richards was experiencing homelessness, used a wheelchair to get around and was scheduled to move into housing next week.
Open Table Nashville is committed to helping people through their loss and relocation, but said they want to do better in case this ever happens again.
"We're going to see about getting together and putting our heads together to come up with an emergency response plan that will be preemptive, something. We knew there were flash flood warnings, but I don't know that any of us really took it seriously enough and thought that our people were going to be in harm's way. Individually, I think some of us did as much as we could to warn people, but I don't know that people have that kind of warning system,” said Paula Foster, with Open Table Nashville.
Open Table Nashville plans to meet with Metro officials about what they could do better in the future. Here's a thread on how you can help:
Just like so many of our neighbors who are spending today assessing and cleaning up flood damage, our unhoused neighbors are doing the same.
— Open Table Nashville (@OpenTableNash) March 28, 2021
(THREAD about what's going on with flooding for our unhoused friends and how you can help!)
