Middle Tennessee Flood | Day 8 | Lori’s Story

Have you ever heard a story that moved you so deeply that every time you shared it with someone else you started crying?  Such is the case with Lori’s story.  I am so incredibly grateful to have had the opportunity to meet Lori and now share her story.  Now that I have a tissue handy I think I’m ready to begin.  Lori Harrington is 32 and a single mother.  She lives with her daughters Jansey (age 11) and Kensley (age 3) on Delray Drive.  On Saturday, May 1st, she noticed that her basement had filled up entirely due to the heavy rains that burdened Richland Creek that ran close to her house.  Before she went to bed she marked where the water was so that she could gage any changes that might take place.  Sunday morning she awoke around 7:00am, checked the line in her basement and noticed that the water had only risen an inch.  Undaunted by the minimal change she went back to sleep.  Around 9:45am her 11yr. old daughter, Kelsey, woke her mother up and was hysterical because water was in her futon bed.  Lori suddenly noticed that the water was rising quickly in her house.  She then tried evacuating immediately with her two daughters.  However, when she opened her front door she saw water everywhere and there was a current.  ”When I saw m vehicle floating I knew it was bad,” said Lori.  With no other choice Lori immediately took the girls up into her windowless attic around 10:00am.  According to Lori the girls where hysterical but she was calm and didn’t cry until much later.  Fortunately, Lori remembered to grab her cell phone amidst all of the chaos.  Her first call was to 911 but it was busy.  She then called her boyfriend Stonie.  Stonie proceeded to tell Lori that he had spoken to her brother Derrick and they were trying to get a boat so that they could come and rescue her and the girls.  ”I promise you we are going to get you out,” Stonie told Lori.  Lori’s third call was to her boss, but was unsuccessful when she was put into his voicemail.  Evidently Lori’s boss had heard about the flooding in Lori’s neighborhood, was trying to find life jackets and was already on his way to help with the rescue.  Lori told me that her boss didn’t get her message until much later.  Another thing that Lori did that was really smart was that she posted on Facebook that she was trapped in her attic, so there were several people that knew her predicament.  Thank God for modern technology!  Three hours later Lori, Jasey and Kensley were removed from harms way when they were evacuated by Lori’s boyfriend, brother and her boss.