Thecity of Nashville expects damage from flooding that began as aresult of more than 13 inches of rain to surpass the billion-dollarmark, despite the fact that assessments are still taking place.

That is according to Nashville Mayor Karl Dean, who stated in arelease that the city "has identified [more than] $1.5 billion inproperty damage throughout Davidson County," since the CumberlandRiver crested at 51 feet, which is 11 feet over flood stage.

That dollar figure does not include public buildings, or anybuilding contents. Currently, there are no estimates for damageinsured by the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP).

Additionally, Dean said that an initial assessment made on 83percent of the county showed that 1,952 residential properties havesustained damage. In order to get a more accurate scope of thedamage, Dean is asking property owners to report to the damage tothis section of thecity's web site.

Yesterday, a fleet of at least 40 privately-contracted truckswere dispatched with 20 Public Works vehicles to begin countywidedisaster debris collections. The city also hired two Mobile, Ala.companies -- Storm Reconstruction Services, Inc., and The DRC Group-- which specialize in disaster recovery operations.

According to the Insurance Information Institute, the state ofTennessee has 25,501 NFIP policies in force for a total of $4.9billion in liability limits.