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Vietnam Vet's 2010 Flood Experience

MURFREESBORO, Tenn (WMOT)  --  This week marks the second anniversary of the spring 2010 floods. Twenty-two people died in the disaster and the storm caused billions in damages.

Harding and Jona Brewster were among the survivors of the historic flooding. The couple used an old boat stored in their backyard to ferry themselves and dozens of neighbors out of their rapidly flooding Old Hickory neighborhood.

Their home was severely damaged and most of their possessions were lost. Harding Brewster, a handicapped Vietnam Vet, recalls how some contractors preyed on storm survivors after the flood water’s receded.

“I call it like it was a circus…they came through here. They had all these pretty colored trucks and stuff and they would try to get you to sign and they were real silk tongued, yah know.”

Many of their neighbors never returned, but teh Brewsters decided to stay and have since raised their flood damaged home three feet, putting it above the new flood plain.

They also plan to keep a boat in the backyard just in case.