A massive storm system parked over middle Tennessee in mid-May, 2010. This storm dropped 10' to 16' of rain over the area in a 36-hour period. A neighbor who has lived one block down the street in the same house for 40 years said that he has never seen anything like this.
I first heard about the storm and the torrential rains from neighborhood friends (called the Franklin Campus) on Twitter. I flew to BWI early Friday morning to drive to Mechanicsburg, PA to convince my Mom that she needed to agree to go into Assisted Living. I spent Friday afternoon with her and then drove down to Springfield, VA to meet Karen so I could help her mom.
Following the tweets all day Saturday, I knew things back home were bad and were going to get worse. I drove back to BWI early Sunday morning to fly back to Nashville. When I landed, I didn't know if I was going to be able to get home. I tweeted when I landed, asking which roads were open and the best route to take to get to downtown Franklin. I received several eyewitness suggestions and made it home with hardly any trouble.
Fortunately, we live up a small hill, so the floodwaters from the Harpeth River never got more than a block away. I found 8' of water in my basement and a small roof leak upstairs - very minor compared to the damage that many friends suffered.
I knew I was going to need a pump to get the water out of my basement. I checked a couple of stores on my drive home Sunday and they were sold out. That night I tweeted a request for anyone who had a pump or knew someone who did that I could borrow. Within minutes, a friend who lives outside downtown said they had two. I drove to his office early the next morning to pick it up, pumped out the water and got the dehumidifier running.
I'm often asked, 'What's the big deal about the social web?'
Events such as this illustrate the power of being connected. Here are a couple of reasons why the social web is a very big deal to me:
- It allows me to stay connected to my family, friends, and business associates in a way that is completely different than I've experienced in the past. The social web makes staying connected easy to do, no matter where you're physically located.
- It helps build community. Unlike any neighborhood I have lived in for the past last 25 years, I have neighbors who will pitch in to help when the need is there. I live in a real, live community of people.
There are many family and friends in the Middle Tennessee area who have lost much as a result of the recent flooding. It's been amazing to watch how literally thousands of people have mobilized to help anywhere and anyway they can - often organizing through Twitter and other social sites!