Status of Post-Flood Report for Tennessee Unclear

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has been giving different answers about whether it will produce a post-flood report for the Cumberland River basin and surrounding areas.

In an interview, Corps Programs Integration Division Chief Gary Loew said last Thursday that the district office in Nashville has requested the report and Washington leadership is considering it. On the same day, the Corps’ Nashville district commander, Lt. Col. Anthony Mitchell told U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper that the in-depth investigation will be carried out.

Cooper issued an angry statement last week demanding the Corps investigate “their response to a multi-billion dollar disaster” and saying officials in Washington had told him it would be too costly. Record rainfall in early May killed 22 people across Middle and West Tennessee and caused more than $2 billion in damage in Nashville alone.

“I got a tip from Washington that we’re already being forgotten,” Cooper said in a Friday interview. “They think that we’re recovering nicely, so why bother.”

On Friday, the Corps’ Nashville district spokesman Bill Peoples explained the mixed messages about the report by saying the district has begun work on a Post-flood Report but does not have enough money to complete it. That money would have to come from Washington.

Cooper speculated that the Corps’ reluctance to commit to funding a Post-flood Report “could be a squeeze-play on Congress” to try to secure more money.

Loew said the Corps is waiting for an estimate from the Nashville district office of how much a Post-flood Report will cost before deciding what action to take, but he said it would likely cost “more money than is available today, so we would have to budget for that.”

That could be unnecessary, though. A supplemental appropriations bill that has already passed the Senate and is awaiting consideration in the House includes $5.4 million for flood investigations. Cooper said the House could vote on it as early as next week, but he warned, “We have no idea what will be in it.”

Cooper has previously called for a congressional investigation into the Corps’ actions during the flood, although he stopped short of accusing the agency of any wrongdoing. And U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander has said he intends to hold a Senate hearing on whether better communication from the Corps’ could have prevented some of the flood’s damage.

At a press event last month, a National Weather Service hydrologist said the extent of the flooding could have been more accurately predicted if the Corps had kept the Weather Service informed of how much water it was releasing into the Cumberland River. Flows from the Old Hickory Dam upstream of Nashville were adjusted 22 times on May 2, but the corps only communicated with the weather service five times.

A routine report on the flood called an After Action Review is already in the works and should be completed in mid-July. A description from the Corps of the After Action Review says it is “the basis for learning from our successes and failures.” It will attempt to answer the question, “What can be improved and how?”

Meanwhile, a Post-flood Report is defined by the Corps as a document that provides a complete understanding of the flood and “will be relied upon to support the planning and evaluation of flood risk management studies and projects for years to come.”

Loew said a decision on the report will be made in coming weeks.