He was satisfied with the federal response to deadly flooding that inundated much of the state this week, Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen said on Thursday.

It has been reported that during a teleconference with reporters, Bredesen called the flooding "the black swan of weather events, just something completely unanticipated, unlike anything we've ever seen here before."

Although other news events in the country, such as the Gulf of Mexico oil spill and the attempted car-bombing in New York, may have diverted public attention from the situation in Tennessee, he is "very, very pleased" with the Obama Administration's response, the governor said.

It was also reported that Bredesen declined to throw out a preliminary damage estimate, saying he wanted to wait until a formal assessment was made.

Bredesen said, "But we're dealing with some pretty serious issues down here. But so far things are moving smoothly. I think we're digging out, but this will take a long time before Tennessee is back to normal."

Nashville Mayor Karl Dean, who said damage in his city could surpass $1 billion, also expressed satisfaction with the state and federal governments' responses. He said the projection was for high waters in the region to fall back to flood level "probably tomorrow (Friday)." But he noted schools and roads were still closed, and the search for any more victims was ongoing.

Dean said, "Right now we're going door to door, trying to determine if there's anybody in some of the buildings that were totally submerged. And that's taking some time, though we're getting it done. We're beginning the recovery process." (With Inputs from Agencies)