Sewage Spills During Franklin Flooding

FRANKLIN, TN —A weekend of unrelenting rain pushed the Harpeth River over its banks in Franklin, with water inundating an under-repair sewer line and sending raw sewage into neighborhood streets.

Near-constant showers resulted in more than three inches of rainfall throughout the Midstate, with Davidson and Williamson counties hardest hit. At the river gauge in Franklin, the Harpeth rose from 4.75 feet at 9 p.m. Friday to a crest of 22.57 feet just after 4 a.m. Sunday. The National Weather Service says "action stage" for the Harpeth at Franklin is 22 feet; during the 2010 flood, it crested at 35.32 feet.

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The high water rushed into a sewer line that was under repair in the Chestnut Bend neighborhood in Franklin, sending raw sewage into the streets. City official will be testing the stormwater for sewage concentrations and installing a by-pass pump, but the high-volume of water is expected to have dilute the sewage to a relatively safe level.

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