[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfL5j9ckcyo]

[tweetmeme]

This last weekend the mid-south knew they were going to be in for a rainy weekend…but not rain of biblical proportions. After the showers settled, country music capital of the world – Nashville, Tennessee – found itself standing in several feet of floodwaters and well over a billion dollars worth of damage. Marquee sites like downtown, the Grand Ole Opry and the Opryland Hotel now double as miniature lakes. Despite the massive devestation, there hasn’t been all that much press (relatively speaking) from the major outlets covering this issue.

The city has a huge obstacle ahead of itself in regards to recovery. However, despite what’s hit them, the community has done an extremely good job of rallying together to help with clean up, conserve water, and help their neighbors in other ways necessary. How can others jump in on the action?

If you are local or within a close distance, Hands On Nashville is a great organization to get involved with. On their home website, they list all the different volunteer outlets there are in the city to help out flood victims. Nashvillest also has a comprehensive list of ways to help out, whether is financially, physically or whatnot.

How can you raise awareness through social media?

Twitter: @nashvillest, a handle typically dedicated to updating followers on where to go, eat and play to Nashville has now dedicated its tweet stream to relief efforts, news and notifying people of who needs help and how to go about doing so. (Thanks to @jeffvenable for making me aware of this). If you want to learn how to help, this is a great resource.

There is also the standard Twitter way of helping via Twibbon. Want to publicly acknowledge your support for Nashville? This is a good place to start. You also have the ability to announce your support via your Facebook profile pic through this same site.

Using Facebook, there are a plethora of Facebook groups (also found on Nashvillest’s website) that can help raise awareness for the flood.

What are some other ways that people can help out?