Memphians compare 2016 flooding to 2011

MEMPHIS, TN (WMC) - With the Mississippi River creeping farther into Memphis, people living near the river's banks are remembering the flood of 2011.

Pamela Holliday said her family was lucky. The flood water in 2011 never made it into the home that's been in her family for generations, but her church, which sat a block away, was not as lucky.

"It was almost to the top of the church," Holliday said. "The church had to be knocked down."

Holliday said she knows the flood this year is not supposed to rise as high as 2011, but she said she's still had nightmares where her house is flooded with her family still inside.

Jonathan Goforth has a metal fabrication business in Memphis.

"The water [in 2011] came up to the bottom of the stop sign," Goforth said. "Probably about 6 inches from getting into our door there."

Goforth and his employees stacked their tools and equipment on tables in case the water seeped into the building.

Goforth and Holliday both remember one interesting detail from 2011: frogs.

"We had a lot of frogs. We had a lot, a lot of frogs," Holliday said. "We had a lot of snakes, but they didn't make it in the house. We were happy about that, but they did make it a lot around the house--and they were in the street."

"Yeah, the animals could still come in," Goforth said.

Emergency management officials are warning people across the area to look out for snakes and other animals that are being pushed out of their homes by the rising water. Keep your eyes open, even if you don't live next to the river.

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