Towering cumulonimbus clouds filtered moonlight from the upper atmosphere, illuminating the flood of biblical proportions that stranded motorists along the east Nashville stretch of I-24, where Leland and Melissa waded through hip-deep waters near the overflowed Harpeth River to board the Metro Fire Department’s twenty-eight foot rapid-response boat. A half mile away, the abandoned Mercedes remained completely submerged in the...

Melissa waited in line at her Belle Meade pharmacy an hour before the store closed. She stood behind an elderly man dressed in polyester pants and a wrinkled Hawaiian shirt with a straw Fedora on his bald head and his right arm cradled in a sling. She clutched her hands and shifted from side to side in Prada wedge sandals,...