April 8, 2021 – Reach Out WorldWide together with Hands on Nashville has deployed a team of volunteers to Nashville, Tennessee to help property owners begin repairing their homes following the heaviest rainfall and flash floods in the city’s history.
Two days of torrential rain storms through Middle Tennessee created deadly flash floods which damaged city infrastructure, businesses and homes throughout the region, killing at least 6 people.
The damage caused by rising flood waters can condemn a home and prevent residents from returning until large repairs are made. From electrical issues to roofs caving in, rain and floods can carry a heavy price tag when it comes to rebuilding.
Our team will conduct “muck and gut” operations where we’ll go into the home and assess the water damage to clear the interior of damaged walls, flooring, and belongings to expedite the repair process. Oftentimes after intense flooding we’ll strip the walls down to the studs through the entire home. Each home we complete can save a homeowner $30-40k in repair and labor costs. We prepare the home for FEMA or contractors to come in and replace the damaged interiors.
Update 04/19/21:
Our volunteers worked for two weeks and were able to muck out 8 homes and 16 hotel rooms which were being used to house the homeless. We had an incredible team working round the clock and were able to make a huge impact on the community. We utilized tools, equipment, and PPE from the local Lowe’s Home Improvement. ROWW and Hands on Nashville were the first help the community had seen and although we got there as quickly as we could there was large black mold growth which required respirators to avoid toxic mold poisoning. 2 of our team leads unfortunately got sick from being exposed to the mold and required a couple days to recover.
This deployment was made possible because of our friends at Hands on Nashville who have a great pulse on the community as well as the fast acting dedicated volunteers looking to make a positive impact with their neighbors. We logged roughly 1,000 hours from 100 volunteers and saved residents tons of money and time in repair costs. There were a few homes we visited which had water damage from prior floods that were never properly repaired and we’re glad we were able to get the necessary work done this time to keep everyone healthy moving forward. As always we thank you, our donors and supporters, for keeping us operating and helping others. If you’d like to make a donation to ROWW please visit the links at the header of our website. To join ROWW please hit that Volunteer button and let’s get to work!
