Lauren and her kids Nashville Flood Recovery

Lauren's house was hit hard in the Nashville Flood on March 27th - with water filling her house so rapidly from all sides that she had to retreat up into the attic while she awaited help – for more than 4  hours. The waters went from a deep puddle in the backyard to cars and structures passing by her windows in a matter of minutes, leaving her no time to grab anything except for the cat and her phone. The kids were not at home at the time of the flood, thank God.

Lauren will need immediate help to get back on her feet while she deals with loss and damage to her home, her car and her business while dealing with insurance, legal issues, and taking care of Avery (10) and Julian (7) - and Jupiter, the cat.


After almost 2 hours in the attic without any response from emergency calls, Lauren's brother-in-law, Dave, decided to try and rescue her and drove to her neighborhood (Suter / Blackman) in his truck but was unable to get on her street as it was completely flooded. He got out and SWAM down her street to the house but was also forced up in the attic with her.

Lauren and Dave tried to break through the roof from the inside but were unable and decided to conserve their energy. Dave's phone was submerged from his swim and was no longer working, so I was also passing notes along to his wife as I heard from him and Lauren in the attic. This went on for hours while they waited, prayed, and tried to stay dry and calm as the power went out.




Eventually, they heard the sound of trucks outside and went back down into the house to look out the window. The water had receded enough to where they could see the mailboxes out front, so she and Dave were able to leave through the front door and wade/swim their way back to his truck while fire and rescue deployed boats to other houses on the street with small children and the elderly. They made it safely back to Lauren's sister's house around 1:30am. 

Jupiter the cat is still in the attic - Lauren is awake now and on her way back to the house to rescue him.

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At this point, we don't know if the house is a complete loss or can be repaired, but at the very least, the water completely submerged the HVAC, water heater, floors, walls, and all of her belongings which were still left in the house ..... which she was in the process of emptying because she SOLD her house last month and was scheduled to close in 4 days on April 1st .....  we have no idea how that will pan out now.

She was relying on the sale of her home this week to fund her living expenses, schooling for the kids, the business, everything for the next year.  Her income source is now on indefinite hold as well as every other aspect of her life. The next few months will be difficult and expensive, as she will be staying in a furnished apartment while dealing with insurance deductibles, the legal aspects of having to cancel the sale of her house, and of course caring for the kids. 

There is also no way that she will be able to continue baking and running The Olyv for the foreseeable future, which was her sole source of income all through this last terrible year.  I asked her if it was OK for me to ask for help on GoFundMe, which I know goes against her personality as someone who is always there for others and never asks for anything for herself. It's a hard pill to swallow needing to ask the community for help, especially as a strong single mother, but here we are.

Any money donated will go directly to housing and living expenses while the damage is surveyed and fixed, mental health resources for her and the kids (Julian's biggest fear has always been flooding/water, and this will surely deepen the wound), insurance deductibles for the house and the car, and whatever costs are associated with the relisting of the house, which will hopefully sell again one day. 

I will update this page as we learn more and see what the actual damage is and what steps are next. From Lauren, Avery, Julian and me – thank you.