The rain came to East Tennessee and it came down hard. Our wettest winter on record, this past Saturday broke even more records with how much rain fell. Two days of heavy rain raised water levels. Where I live and several neighboring towns dealt with flooding. It was worse in the towns in the lower elevations. But high in the mountains, deep water wasn't the issue...it was landslides.

View From My House Once The Rain Stopped

Thankfully, the water from the river across the street never got as high as the train tracks. I do feel sorry for the people who have homes across the street from us because the river took over that side and it looks like some of the homes got flooded.

It was kind of creepy outside that night. Out here in the countryside it's pitch black at night. The sound of moving water was loud and coming from across the street and the foot of our mountain. It was kind of scary hearing all that powerful moving water so loud and so close by.

When I was a kid we had a big flood in 1998. We had to evacuate out house in the middle of the night. I remember seeing the river coming up our street as we drove away before it got to our house. The next day I was wading in knee deep water in my basement bedroom trying to salvage furniture and belongings. I had horrible PTSD for a long time when I was a kid about floods. Hearing all that water near my house this past weekend brought back bad memories.

Stream at the bottom of our mountain

The little stream at the foot of our mountain turned into a raging river in spots. The water was rushing fast down the mountainside. This particular storm and all the rain we've gotten this winter has taught me some lessons in erosion. When lots of rain flows down mountainsides, heavy trees often fall. The Appalachian mountains are rocky underneath the dirt. The rain washes away the dirt holding the tree roots down. Once that dirt weakens, the trees fall. The same is also true for roads. Mountain roads built on the sides of mountains where you can look down the mountain on one side while driving are dangerous if the dirt below them erodes. There were quite a few landslides and several mountain roads that no longer exist because they fell apart and down the mountain from all the rain.

An example of erosion

This tree is near my house and a great example of erosion. The tree fell over roots and all a very long time ago. Maybe a wind storm or rain storm finally caused it to fall. When the dirt holding the roots down erodes, big trees fall in the forest.

We did finally get some blue skies on Monday through Wednesday. Things have dried up and waters have receded. I'll be glad when this super wet winter is over. Barely any blue skies and constant gray is depressing.

All photos and words are my own.