The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has drawn plenty of media attention, and for good reason. It touches on environmental, energy, and competence issues for the American government, and it has cost eleven people their lives. Can we clean up a major spill from an offshore drilling rig? If we can’t stop it from spewing oil quickly, our entire energy policy and the idea of energy independence could be at risk, at least politically.

However, the national media has overlooked another disaster in Nashville. Torrential rains have flooded a major American city, causing over a billion dollars in damage, which puts the crisis among the most expensive natural disasters in American history. Except for a couple of brief mentions, hardly any attention at all has been paid to it at all. Perhaps that’s because, as this video suggests, Tennessee has tried handling it themselves (via Newsbusters):

CNN did provide some coverage of the flood, which has killed at least nineteen people:

Nearly a week after record-setting rain swelled rivers to historic levels and sent a torrent of water rushing through Nashville, much of the Tennessee city of about 1 million people remained flooded. …

As rescue and recovery crews continued to look for more bodies, the death toll across the Southeast from the weekend storm stood at 28 on Wednesday.

Nineteen of the deaths were in Tennessee, with nine in Nashville alone. Two residents are missing, Dean’s office said.

The mayor estimated the flood damage to top $1 billion easily.

The storms have killed 28 people in the American Southeast. The Red Cross is trying to help. We may not be able to help with the Gulf crisis, but we can help the folks of Tennessee, Kentucky, and Mississippi by donating cash and goods through the Red Cross effort.

Update: WSMV will hold a telethon tonight that will be live-streamed on their site.  Dig deep.

Update II: I didn’t know this when I wrote the post, but there is a Townhall/Salem Communications link to this story, too. I received this statement from Townhall a few minutes ago:

Townhall Magazine subscriptions are handled out of Salem’s Nashville office and sadly Townhall Magazine’s circulation manager had her house flooded with more than 8 feet of water. Word is that it going to be a total loss. Our prayers and support go to Jamie in her moment of need.

Jamie, you’re in our prayers.