Artist's Studio Destroyed by Jackson TN Flood

(Pictures are WAY out of order...Blogger won't put them where they are supposed to go!)

May 2010 began with a bang here in Jackson, TN. Or rather with sirens. At 3:30am Saturday morning, we were awakened by tornado sirens. Off to the basement - a.k.a. my jewelry & art studio - we went.

Soon heavy rains began to come down. And more rain. And more. By daylight, this was the sight we saw at our home in south Jackson, TN.

We were soon run out of the basement, by flood waters which ravaged the low spot in our neighborhood.


All of that water was poured into my studio. :(


When I finally decided to brave the basement level to see how bad it was, I was shocked. I felt like I was in a fish tank as I saw the water against one of the two glass patio doors. It was pouring into the room under and around the edges of the doors.


200+ gallons of shop vac'd water later, this is the mess that is left. Two large room rugs were destroyed. They were old anyway, so I'm not really upset about their loss. But I did like having them down there.

The canvases you see on the right up against the sink area are okay - they were covered in plastic.

This is the main studio area, where all the furnishings have been moved away from where the water concentrated itself the most.

The baseboards are ruined. Mud has come from under the house and under the baseboards into the room.

My previous sealants I'd used to keep water from coming into that area of the room exploded out from beneath the baseboards.

Jewelry making tables are out of commission for the time being. Two power strips which housed the plugs for the multiple lights ended up being underwater and are ruined.

I can't even get to my area for the time being. I guess it's a good thing I wasn't working on a project when this happened, or this would really frustrate me!

My best friend is shown in this photo...my shop vac. That vac helped me suck out over 200 gallons of water on the first day and another 20+ gallons from this room directly the second day.

I forgot about the closet. I remembered it yesterday. Opened it up and everything on the ground level was ruined and trashed. This is all that is left inside. The styrofoam sheets I use to pack and ship my large paintings were safe though - luckily, they were propped up on something else - off of ground level.

Insurance will cover nothing. Go figure.

--Jai