yukongirl

We will be going on vacation the last week of this month (May 2010) and are concerned that the flooding, etc. will still be severe enough that it may cause us trouble traveling to our destination. We are aware of the rock slide and the 140 mile detour but we are staying two nights in Nashville (downtown near Music Row) and are concerned that we may not be able to stay there. We are about to send our money for the cabin we rented in Asheville and will not lose much if we cancel this trip at this point in time. Any ideas from someone living in Nashville and surrounding area if you would still plan on going? Thanks for any suggestions.

starrs

You shouldn't have any problems in Nashville by the end of the month and no reason not to go to Asheville at all.

Brian_in_Charlotte

I-40 (rockslide) is now open. I'd be surprised it the current flooding would cause you problems in a month.

jent103

The rockslide closings should be back open or close to it, from what I've heard.

As far as Nashville: Things are very, very bad in several parts of the city and surrounding area. There is some flooding downtown (though if your hotel is near Music Row, which is not in downtown, it is probably fine). However, in a month's time, downtown should be clear. Major interstates are open now except for I-40 west of town. Hopefully that will be back open soon, since the Harpeth River is receding, but I don't know if the road itself is damaged.

In short: Your plans to stay in town should be fine in a month. If you're coming from the west, you may need to detour to get here. Flooding is localized to the Nashville area (my parents are in Knoxville, and they are not expecting anything like this as the system goes through).

yukongirl

Thank you for the replies. I am so relieved to hear the rock slide has been cleared. That was going to add some time to our trip. Glad to hear that Nashville is going to be okay soon. We plan on spending two days there and going to the Opryland Hotel and I think I read that it had flooded too. Hope everyone dries out soon. This is my first visit to this site and I am really impressed on how polite and helpful the replies are. Again, thank you so much, Brenda

jent103

The Opryland is under quite a bit of water right now. I'm not sure how long it will take them to clean it up (hopefully not too long), but it's surreal to watch. I'm sure they'll post updates or be happy to take phone calls once they get cleanup started. Here's video, if you're interested. Amazing.

http://www.wsmv.com/video/23435320/index.html

yukongirl

Jent103 thanks for the video. Oh my that is surreal. Hard to believe how much water there is. We were planning on touring the hotel on that Sunday but guess that is out now. I called just today and our hotel has not been damaged at all and she said most of downtown Nashville has dried out so that's good news for those folks in Nashville. Churches in our area are sending money, goods, etc. to Nashville. We are praying for everyone in Nashville and the surrounding area and hope things improve there very soon for you all. Thanks to all for the responses.

jent103

Yukongirl, thank you for the prayers and the donations! Downtown should be fine by the time you get here - it's pretty close to normal now, with some exceptions. I posted a more in-depth update on another thread. The Opryland Hotel, though, will be closed for months. The water is close to gone, but they had an enormous amount of damage. So unfortunately you won't be able to see that, but we have many other great places to visit! Just about all the other tourist attractions are open again.

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