May 14, 2010
By Marcus Washington
NewsChannel5

CENTERVILLE, Tenn. - Middle Tennessee farmers are counting the millions of dollars they lost in flooded crops and washed away livestock.

Photo: Cattle usually graze on this farm along Sneed Road near the Harpeth River. (Margaret Sizemore / The Tennessean)

There's still no word on how many of the 72,000 farmers were affected. It could take years for those in the hardest hit areas to recover.

"Really it's just one day at a time," said Lee McCormick, owner of Piney River Cattle Company. "You show up and clean up and you work on what has to be worked on that day to keep operating."

In just 24 hours, water changed everything that was considered normal at the farm.

"All the gates were closed and all the fences were up, and we had cattle washed over the tops of the fences and were in the pen," said McCormick.

Fences were either torn down or covered in debris across some of the 1,000 acre farm. Nearly the entire farm was covered in water, washing a large number of livestock away. There were 300 goats and dozens of cattle missing. Many were found dead up to four miles away.

"I know nature does what it does, and I'm not mad about it. It's a cycle of what's going on all over the planet," said McCormick.

Before the storm hit, the area near the Piney River was knee high level grass. Now much of it is covered in sand.

"We think we have stuff figured out, but we don't amount to much when nature gets going," said McCormick.

He said he's lost nearly $250,000 in the flood, and that's just at the cattle company.

He said he's been denied by FEMA, and he is hoping to get assistance from the agriculture department.

Farmers looking for assistance are asked to call their county's Farm Service Agency.

Each county has an emergency board that will survey the property and submit an application for aid.

http://www.newschannel5.com/Global/story.asp?S=12480298