Tennessee Flood.

The Stones River is now ten feet from our back porch. I'm thinking, hoping, that this is the peak of the flood, because the rain stopped late last night and the river has swelled feet upon feet since I woke up this morning.

The journalist in me is soaking in every detail of this crazy, wet, catastrophic weekend in Tennessee. It didn't hit me until last night just how devastating this flood is. Saturday, when we were driving home in it, Erin and I were laughing at our adventure. I wasn't laughing when I got home and turned on the news, to my former employer who has done an incredible job showing the myriad stories that have erupted out of this event. The death toll has risen to at least 11 (the pessimist in me has a hunch this will continue to rise); the flood waters have risen to historic levels; damage is so extensive it will surely take months, years even, and millions of dollars to repair.

I thought I was maybe exaggerating what I'd seen driving around yesterday. As a writer I have a tendency to do that, to retell stories in my head with such building description that a puddle becomes a flood and a spark becomes a blaze. I wondered if I'd really seen water coming up to streetlights in blocked off areas ahead of me. If I'd really seen countless cars abandoned and water rushing into buildings and houses.

It wasn't my imagination.

Jason and I were reluctant to go to sleep last night, because we're both worriers and because we had infant safely snoring in her crib upstairs. The Stones River had grown exponentially since we'd put her to bed. But it was still yards away from our apartment. Just in case, though, we set our alarm for three a.m. and looked outside the window to make sure it hadn't become the Flood to End All Floods while we slept. At three a.m. it was just creeping up to our apartment complex's grill, a good thirty feet away from our back porch.

I can't even see that grill this morning.

We got really lucky here in Murfreesboro. I can skip a rock into the river from my back door, but my loved ones and my belongings are safe and sound. My heart goes out to the thousands who have not been so fortunate.

The best coverage so far has been at WSMV. And I'm not being biased, it really has been mind-blowing. For those not in Tennessee, check out the station's Web site to see images and details from the past few days.