I was just now getting to see some of the photos and video from Nashville, showing the crazy flooding that central Tennessee has been experiencing since Sunday. By one measure, 13 inches of rain fell over the weekend, and areas that aren’t even within walking distance of a river have been affected. Nashville is one of the centers of the music industry, and I imagine I will hear later that some of my friends there had to evacuate, though I am hopeful that none of them have too much damage or inconvenience as a result of the flooding. The flood waters in Nashville apparently started to decline yesterday, and while people at some places got in to assess flood damage today, other facilities may have to wait until Saturday or Monday for their streets to reopen — I know from my own experience that flood waters rise much faster than they fall.
If I didn’t realize how big the Nashville story was until today, it‘s partly because there has been so much other news of the consequences of unexpected and unplanned events: a historic oil spill below the mouth of the Mississippi River, volcanic ash closing some European airspace again, not to mention Greece, Goldman Sachs, and all the other ongoing turmoil that is entirely man-made.
Most of what happens in life, and economics, is capable of being planned, but every day crazy things happen, and then we can set the plans aside and succeed based on how well we respond to events. When you get right down to it, planning is overrated. Being alert and ready to move is just as important.
