Tennessee Red Cross chapter starts from scratch

Flood waters have pushed the Nashville chapter of the American Red Cross into relocating to a new building.

Earlier this spring, severe flooding devastated the city, and it is still recovering from its after effects. Even disaster relief coordinators at the Red Cross weren't able to escape harm, with their former building on South Riverside Drive succumbing to flood damage from the overflowing Cumberland River, reported the Leaf-Chronicle.

"We lost everything. We had no furniture, no computers, no training materials except for a few CPR dummies we were able to salvage," executive director Julie Campos told the paper. "While we were out helping people, we were under water ourselves, but the volunteers never gave up."

The damage forced the organization into moving to a smaller location on Madison Street, though they told the paper that their new building is more "usable," because it has more space to run blood donations. However, they still lack much of the storage they require and are renting portable storage devices until they can find permanent space, said the report.

Flash flooding caused by record rainfall in Tennessee this past Spring was some of the worst seen in the Mid-South in decades, reported ABC News. At least 29 people lost their lives across Tennessee, Kentucky and Mississippi, while many more had to relocate from their damaged homes.


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