Flooding devastated areas throughout Nashville and surrounding counties, taking lives and destroying homes, businesses, and roadways. A massive community response resulted in more than 25,000 volunteers helping with cleanup and repairs. Today, our city continues to feel the impact of these events, whether in the empty lots in our neighborhoods or the community spirit fostered through shared struggles.

Flood Timeline

Explore More

As soon as the library reopened after the flood, staff members began collecting materials to document the history aspects of the event. The Special Collections Division, in partnership with institutions throughout the city, collected 173 oral histories as well as many still images, text, audio, video, and documents of the aftermath. These items became the Flood 2010 Collection, which is now open to the public in the Special Collections Division at the Main Library. The images and stories in this post are just a sampling of the numerous resources housed in this collection.

Explore our interactive map of flood impact throughout the city.

To learn more about the 2010 Flood, visit Special Collections Division and examine the Flood 2010 Collection.