Which Nashville neighborhoods are most at risk?
For radon, none stands out: all of Davidson County is EPA Zone 1, so every home should be tested. For mold, risk follows water. In the May 2010 flood, Whites Creek in Bordeaux, Mill Creek in Antioch, the Harpeth at Bellevue, and Browns and Richland creeks all set records, according to the National Weather Service.
What should you know about your neighborhood?
Each card sticks to what public records document: when the houses went up, which creek or river is nearby, and what floods and storms have done. Where the record is thin, the card says less. Radon is the same story everywhere below: test your own house.
East Nashville
Edgefield · Lockeland Springs · Five Points
Nashville's largest surviving cluster of Victorian houses is here. After the 1916 fire, Edgefield kept building modest homes into the 1920s, so bungalows sit between the older Victorians on many blocks.[NPS] With houses this old, the usual suspects are roofs, gutters and the ground around the foundation.
- March 22, 1916: the Great East Nashville Fire destroyed more than 600 homes and businesses across 35 city blocks.[Library]
- March 3, 2020: the tornado did EF-3 damage in Five Points and EF-2 damage to homes in Lockeland Springs. A torn roof lets rain into attics and walls; EPA says dry wet materials within 24–48 hours.[NWS][EPA]
Flood record nearby: Downtown & along the Cumberland, May 2010
Call about an East Nashville home(615) 364-8354Inglewood
Inglewood Place · Riverside Drive
Inglewood started as a streetcar suburb: Inglewood Place was laid out in 1909 along Gallatin Road, and most of its building boom came in the 1920s and 1930s. Because the ground rolls, a number of houses have raised basements with walk-out doors.[NPS] That basement is where EPA says to put a radon test kit, since it should go in the lowest lived-in level.[EPA]
- The historic district has 468 residential buildings; 229 of them are bungalows, by far the most common type.[NPS]
Germantown
Just north of downtown
German immigrants started building here in the 1840s, and the historic district holds houses from the 1840s through the 1920s, from workers' cottages and shotgun houses to brick townhouses.[Metro] It was listed on the National Register in 1979.[NPS] Renovating one of these houses is a good time to look for old leaks: EPA's rule is to fix the water problem first, then clean up the mold.[EPA]
- March 3, 2020: the tornado did EF-2 damage across Germantown, damaging or destroying apartment buildings, homes and businesses.[NWS]
Flood record nearby: Downtown & along the Cumberland, May 2010
Call about a Germantown home(615) 364-8354The Nations
West Nashville · 51st Avenue & Centennial Boulevard
For most of the 20th century The Nations was a working-class neighborhood of largely identical clapboard or cinder-block houses, with industry between Centennial Boulevard and the river. Teardowns are now common, and new houses stand beside the old ones.[Nashville Scene] New construction is not a pass on radon.
- EPA: "Any home may have a radon problem. This means new and old homes, well-sealed and drafty homes, and homes with or without basements."[EPA]
Flood record nearby: Richland Creek, May 2010
Call about a home in The Nations(615) 364-8354Sylvan Park
Charlotte Avenue to Richland Creek
Sylvan Park was established in 1887, and its western edge is Richland Creek itself, with the 3.8-mile Richland Creek Greenway alongside.[SPNA] That makes the creek's gauge on Charlotte Avenue worth knowing.
- Richland Creek at Charlotte Avenue crested at 19.99 feet on May 2, 2010, the highest the Weather Service lists for that gauge, and at 14.79 feet on March 28, 2021.[NWS]
Flood record nearby: Richland Creek, May 2010
Call about a Sylvan Park home(615) 364-835412 South
12th Avenue South · Sevier Park
Around 1900, land companies ran a streetcar line out Granny White Pike, now 12th Avenue South, and laid out subdivisions; affordable bungalows and Folk Victorians filled them. A few pre-1900 houses still stand on Caruthers Avenue.[12 South NA] We found no creek-flood record for 12 South in the sources we use, so everyday moisture is the thing to watch.
- EPA: keep gutters clean and repaired, and make sure the ground slopes away from the foundation so water does not collect around it.[EPA]
Green Hills
Hillsboro Pike · Sugartree Creek
Green Hills drains to Richland Creek through Sugartree Creek, one of its tributaries. Metro Water Services lists the area around the Mall at Green Hills, along Sugartree Creek, among the watershed's largest commercial areas.[Metro] If your lot is near the creek, look up your address on FEMA's flood map.[FEMA]
- Indoor target from EPA: relative humidity below 60%, ideally 30–50%. A small humidity meter will tell you where a basement stands.[EPA]
Flood record nearby: Richland Creek, May 2010
Call about a Green Hills home(615) 364-8354Belle Meade
City of Belle Meade · Richland Creek
Belle Meade is its own city, but it sits inside Davidson County, so the county's EPA radon Zone 1 rating applies here too.[EPA] Richland Creek and its Belle Meade Branch run through the area on their way north to the Cumberland.[Metro]
- May 1–2, 2010: an observer 1.4 miles north-northeast of Belle Meade measured 17.67 inches of rain, one of the highest two-day totals the Weather Service listed for the storm.[NWS]
Flood record nearby: Richland Creek, May 2010
Call about a Belle Meade home(615) 364-8354Bellevue
Southwest Davidson · Harpeth River
The Harpeth River is Bellevue's flood story. In May 2010 high-water marks put it at 33.32 feet at Bellevue, almost 9 feet over the 1948 record, after the gauge itself washed away.[NWS] The federal review of the flood named Bellevue among the older, established neighborhoods where much of the significant flooding happened.[NWS]
- March 28, 2021: the Harpeth at Bellevue crested at 23.29 feet, and storm reports had it running several feet deep over Old Harding Pike.[NWS]
Flood record nearby: Bellevue & the Harpeth, May 2010
Call about a Bellevue home(615) 364-8354Antioch
Southeast Davidson · Mill Creek
Mill Creek has flooded Antioch badly twice in recent memory. In May 2010 the Antioch gauge set a record of 26.10 feet,[NWS] and officials closed I-24 over Mill Creek as water overtopped the median; a portable school building floated down the interstate.[NWS] Drywall, carpet or insulation that stayed wet more than 48 hours is worth a look.[EPA]
- March 27–28, 2021: 7 to 9 inches of rain brought a rare Flash Flood Emergency to southeastern Davidson County; downstream, Mill Creek at Woodbine crested at 20.85 feet, second only to 2010.[NWS]
Flood record nearby: Antioch & Mill Creek, May 2010
Call about an Antioch home(615) 364-8354Donelson
East of downtown · Donelson Hills · Stanford Estates
Donelson took the worst of both recent disasters. On March 3, 2020 the tornado crossed Donelson Hills and Lincoya Hills, then strengthened to a strong EF-3 in Stanford Estates, where several homes were leveled.[NWS] In the 2010 flood, Metro's after-action report lists boat rescues in the Pennington Bend area, including Steamboat Drive and Penn Meade Avenue.[Metro]
- Nearby in 2010, the Cumberland put 7 feet of water into Opry Mills and did an estimated $220 million in damage to the Opryland resort.[NWS]
- March 28, 2021: storm reports logged homes surrounded by floodwater on Philwood Drive, Gailwood Lane and Lakeland Drive.[NWS]
Flood record nearby: Downtown & along the Cumberland, May 2010
Call about a Donelson home(615) 364-8354Hermitage
Old Hickory Boulevard · Tulip Grove
On March 3, 2020 the tornado kept doing EF-2 damage to homes and businesses as it turned southeast through Hermitage into Wilson County.[NWS] Metro's report on the 2010 flood counts the Donelson, Hermitage and Old Hickory area among the communities hit extremely hard by floodwater.[Metro]
- March 28, 2021: the Kroger on Old Hickory Boulevard flooded, and Dodson Chapel, Tulip Grove and Chandler roads were under water and impassable.[NWS]
Madison
Gallatin Pike · Neely's Bend · Dry Creek
Madison's housing roughly splits at Gallatin Pike: older bungalows and small cottages on smaller lots east of the Pike near downtown Madison, and suburban ranch houses on larger lots to the west and along Neely's Bend Road. A long stretch of the Cumberland borders the community, and some homes were destroyed in the 2010 flood before Metro bought and demolished houses in flood-prone areas.[Madison plan]
- May 2, 2010: Dry Creek at Edenwold, in north Madison, crested at 13.87 feet.[Metro]
Old Hickory
Hadley's Bend of the Cumberland
Old Hickory was built in 1918 as DuPont's company village for a World War I powder plant. Its historic-district houses are pine-framed, mostly Colonial Revival or bungalow designs, and the village sits in Hadley's Bend, a loop of the Cumberland River.[NPS] A century-old frame house and a new one get the same radon advice: test.
- May 1, 2010: boats rescued hundreds of residents from a subdivision off Merritt Street and Waterford Drive overnight.[Metro]
Flood record nearby: Downtown & along the Cumberland, May 2010
Call about an Old Hickory home(615) 364-8354Bordeaux
North Nashville · Whites Creek
Whites Creek is the water to know in Bordeaux. On May 2, 2010 it crested at 25.82 feet, more than 6 feet above its 2002 record.[NWS] Metro's after-action report says parts of the Bordeaux and Whites Creek community were "literally washed away," with rescues on West Hamilton Road, Tucker Road and Hummingbird Drive.[Metro]
- February 2011: the Metro Council approved buying and removing 41 houses in repeatedly flooded parts of the lower Richland Creek and lower Whites Creek basins.[Metro Council]
Flood record nearby: Bordeaux & Whites Creek, May 2010
Call about a Bordeaux home(615) 364-8354Does radon risk change by neighborhood?
EPA assigns radon zones by county, and Davidson County is Zone 1, the highest-potential group, whether you live in a 1920s bungalow or a new townhouse.[EPA] There is no official radon map below the county level. Individual homes still differ, and EPA says the zone map should not be used to decide whether a particular home needs testing.[EPA] In a state screening survey, readings across Davidson County ranged up to 64.2 pCi/L.[USGS] The only neighborhood-level answer is a test in your own home.
All 15 neighborhoods above are in Davidson County, EPA Zone 1. Details on the Nashville radon page.
Where did Nashville's creeks flood in 2010?
On May 1–2, 2010, Nashville got 13.57 inches of rain in two days. Creeks across the county set records, some by several feet.[NWS] Here are the crests the Weather Service published:
Downtown & along the Cumberland
The river did tremendous damage when it crested at 52.55 feet, though that was still below its 1927 record of 56.20 feet, set before dams controlled the Cumberland and its tributaries.[NWS]
What it means for mold: if water reached your crawl space, basement or walls, materials that stayed wet beyond 24–48 hours are worth checking.[EPA]
Neighborhoods: East Nashville, Germantown, Donelson, Old Hickory
Antioch & Mill Creek
A new record, beating 23.78 feet from 1979. Downstream, the Mill Creek gauge at Woodbine also set a record at 21.37 feet.[NWS]
What it means for mold: if water reached your crawl space, basement or walls, materials that stayed wet beyond 24–48 hours are worth checking.[EPA]
Neighborhoods: Antioch
Bellevue & the Harpeth
Almost 9 feet above the 1948 record of 24.34 feet. The water ran so high it washed the Bellevue gauge away.[NWS]
What it means for mold: if water reached your crawl space, basement or walls, materials that stayed wet beyond 24–48 hours are worth checking.[EPA]
Neighborhoods: Bellevue
Richland Creek
Almost 5 feet above its 1979 flood level of 15.13 feet.[NWS]
What it means for mold: if water reached your crawl space, basement or walls, materials that stayed wet beyond 24–48 hours are worth checking.[EPA]
Neighborhoods: Sylvan Park, Green Hills, Belle Meade, The Nations
How can you check your own address?
Old flood crests tell you which waterways can rise, not whether your lot is in a mapped flood zone. FEMA's Flood Map Service Center lets you look up an address. Inside the house, the practical checks are the same everywhere: look and sniff in the crawl space or basement after heavy rain, keep indoor humidity below 60%, and dry anything wet within a day or two.[EPA]
Keep reading
Sources
- National Weather Service Nashville, The May 2010 Flood
- NWS Service Assessment, Record Floods of Greater Nashville, May 1–4, 2010 (PDF)
- National Weather Service Nashville, March 27–28, 2021 Historic Flash Flooding
- National Weather Service Nashville, March 2–3, 2020 Tornadoes
- Metro Nashville OEM, Severe Flooding May 2010 After Action Report (2011, PDF)
- Metro Council Resolution RS2011-1527 (flood buyouts, 2011)
- Metro Water Services, Richland Creek Watershed Management Plan (PDF)
- EPA radon zone data file, June 2024
- EPA, Tennessee Map of Radon Zones (PDF)
- EPA, A Citizen's Guide to Radon (PDF)
- USGS Open-File Report 93-292-D: Geologic radon potential, Tennessee chapter (1993)
- EPA, A Brief Guide to Mold, Moisture and Your Home
- FEMA Flood Map Service Center
- NOAA NCEI, Comparative Climatic Data: average relative humidity through 2023 (Nashville, 1948–2018)
- National Register nomination, Edgefield Historic District (NPS)
- Nashville Public Library, The Great East Nashville Fire
- National Register nomination, Inglewood Place Historic District (NPS)
- Metro Historic Zoning Commission, Germantown Design Guidelines (PDF)
- National Register of Historic Places, Germantown Historic District (NPS)
- National Register nomination, Old Hickory Multiple Resource Area (NPS)
- Nashville Scene, Walk a Mile: The Nations (2021)
- Sylvan Park Neighborhood Association, Neighborhood FAQs
- 12 South Neighborhood Association, Neighborhood History
- Madison Strategic Plan, Background Report (2018)