Opryland Flooded

March 2005 marked the 30th anniversary of the flood that put lower parts of the former Opryland amusement park under 16 feet of water.

The flood crept to within 17 inches of portions of the main floor of the Grand Ole Opry House, then only a year old. Pumps frantically pushed 21,600 gallons an hour out of work areas and the tunnel beneath the building.

It was March 14, 1975, just days before the 1972 park's scheduled March 29 opening for its fourth season.

More than 2½ inches of rain earlier that week had gradually pushed the Cumberland River over protective dikes, through the park and its parking lots and even over nearby Briley Parkway.

There were a few fatalities. The park's petting zoo lost two wolves, five goats, six rabbits, 13 quail and a few bantam chickens.

The bison and deer were taken to a higher field, while some chimpanzees were sent to board at the homes of Opryland employees. The baby elephant was moved to the Opry House prop room.

Tennessean readers on March 16 saw a strange sight in the photo of Grand Ole Opry General Manager E.W. Bud Wendell and William C. Weaver Jr., board chairman of the park's owner, National Life & Accident Insurance Co., touring the park grounds together. They were puttering around in a small motorboat near the flooded Folk Music Theater.

Opry legend Roy Acuff visited the park March 19 to survey the music hall named for him where his relics were on display. He was upset to find an extremely valuable organ damaged.

Flood damage estimates for the park overall were being placed at roughly $5 million. Its initial construction cost had been about $28 million.

Just two weeks before the flood, Opryland officials had announced a $2.5 million expansion project to add nine buildings, a theme area and a major ride attraction on seven additional acres.

After the damage, there were questions about whether the park could even open by summer. But a massive cleanup got it back in shape by April 19, when an estimated 10,000 people flocked in for the first day of the season.

Earlier, on March 28, a parking-lot tent sale of flood-damaged park merchandise and souvenirs had attracted more than 6,000 bargain hunters. Some items were caked with dried mud, while others seemed untouched by little more than dampness.

From the time we opened, it was like the Oklahoma land rush, Ed Stone, Opryland public relations director, told a Tennessean reporter.

The Grand Ole Opry performance was moved for one weekend to Municipal Auditorium, even though the Opry House interior was undamaged by floodwaters. The Ryman Auditorium had not been restored by then, so it could not be used.

So what caused the flood? The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' Jim Bates blamed deliberate invasions of flood plains by developers and those who finance developments.

Bates noted in a 1975 interview that the then-new MetroCenter did not flood, while Opryland did, because one built an adequate flood wall, but the other did not.

The Opryland area's flood dike has since been enhanced. The park closed after the 1997 season for demolition and construction of the $200 million Opry Mills shopping center, which opened in 2000.

The site plan for the shopping center called for 800,000 cubic yards of dirt to be hauled in, even as the Corps of Engineers was proposing in 1998 to raise the Cumberland's projected 100-year flood plain by about two feet.

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