Severe Flooding in MidWest
 

Hello all, in case people are unaware of what is going on over here in the MidWest, Iowa is experiencing SEVERE flooding due to the constant torrential rainfall the last few weeks.

The East side of Iowa (Mississippi River) is particularly hit hard with 25,000+ people dislocated out of their homes. Numerous businesses are shut down, and there is talk of raw sewage going into the river. At least one hospital that I know of has shut down and the patients are being transported here to Des Moines.

The Des Moines area is in so-so shape with the DSM river WAYY over the limits partially flooding the downtown area. This is mainly because a lake a little to the north is overflowing the spillway.

Despite my ~5 mile proximity from the DSM river, yours truly isn't doing all that bad. There is a creek about 1/4 mile away from my house ("4-mile creek") that is causing water to come up through the basement floor, but it's only a trickle and is managable. Luckily, as fast as it rises, the water falls off as long as there is no fresh rain - it helps that there is no lake dumping into it.

It's going to be MONTHS before Iowa sees anything resembling order. Even if it doesn't rain the rest of the summer, it will be a long time before the water table drops enough.

I don't know how many of you are religious, but prayers would be welcome for the many people who have had their homes and lives flooded away. And this is in the metro areas that are somewhat prepared after the flood of '93. I shudder to think about how the smaller towns downstream are going to fare.

I could go on and on with details about this, but I think I've said enough. If you want to know more, check out the local news website: http://www.desmoinesregister.com

Brian i hope you & everyone else stays safe.

Thanks. I think I'll be ok - it's the thousands who have lost everything that I feel for. Before things stabilized, I got a little "anxious" thinking that I was gonna lose everything too. It's a really crappy feeling knowing your livelihood is at stake and there's not a whole heck of a lot you can do about it except hope for the best. You feel angry and helpless, and it's not pleasant. I can only imagine what it's like for those who DID lose everything.

And even if you have flood insurance, it only covers sewage and basement drain backup. Insurance for "real" flooding is available ONLY through the government (FEMA), is $5,000 per year, and takes between 30-45 days to go into affect. You can imagine how many people have this. I talked to my insurance rep just to know my options (I'm basically SOL if things go downhill), and she said she's only helped process like 4 FEMA policies in 7 years. It's sad.

lots of crazy events have been happening everywhere... it's really sad to lose everything..

I know; heatwave on the East Coast, snow on the west. Not a pleasant year...

Brian i could only imagine how all those people feel. Thats why i feel very blessed for what i have.

Brian my prayers are with you and yours. I can relate what you are experiencing after going through Katrina. Things can be replaced. People can't. Good luck and stay safe.

Mark

Hope you stay high and dry there Brian.

I am a bit more used to flooding, I live right next to a river in the northwest (always rains). I have a sump pump in the basement, it gets water in there about half of the year or more.

We are going thru the other side of what is causing or contributing to your areas rain problems - the big high pressure system parked over TX/SE US. We've had only .26" of rain at my house in the past 8 going on 9 weeks. I learned in '99 that no matter how much water I put on the yard, I can't save it under these conditions and concentrate on keeping shrubs and other plants viable.

When I moved to LA in '87 from AL, a geologist sat me down and we looked at some topo maps - she advised me on areas where to buy my house based on GL elevations, turned out to be a smart move - over the next 12 yrs, hurricane Juan and numerous tropical storms/depressions, I was never flooded but was confined to the neighborhood due to high water twice. I went through same exercise with topo info before buying here in Houston and haven't seen a drop even near the house.

I spent a lot of time manning pumps and helping to sand bag homes that were not so fortunate on the south side of I10 in Slidell, we saved some, others we just couldn't. The oil companies loaned pumping equipment, but we had to provide the manpower. I am familar with what others are going thru and will have to go thru and wish them all the best.

Your life and the safety of your family is paramount right now, material things can and will be replaced with time. Stay safe!

Many thanks for the help, Duster. I live in slidell, and my house did not flood (luckily), my shop did (5.5ft) and it was fun to clean up...

Good luck Brian, and I hope that everyone there does as well as they can!

I am in the Cedar Rapids area and have been downtown a few times in the past few days. I was only a few months old during the flood of '93 and don't know much about it. But I know that what is happening now is much worse than '93. All of downtown CR is flooded. I think that every business downtown has water on their first floor. Words can't describe how bad things are downtown.

They are saying there is close to $740 million in damage so far in Cedar Rapids

Thankfully, our house is far from the flooding and the only thing we've had to do is cut back our water use to drinking only, so no showers.

Here a link to a site with pictures of the damage

http://www.gazetteonline.com/

Well even if not religious like myself, we can still wish well and be supportive in any way we can. Hopefully fema does a better job with this one. Good luck to you and all those folks out there.

ps. I hope people and politicians around the world start taking global warming seriously. I don't care who or what's causing it but it's happening. Just take a look at the polar ice caps 50 yrs ago compared to now.

Brian,

We got some of your rain and it was actually like a hurricane (I've been through a few of those), as trees were down, branches fell every where and we had no electricity for a day. The heat wave was bad also and happened before the storm hit us. My daughter had 2 early release from school, because they don't have A/C.

My prayers are with all of you Brian. It is indescribable going through that kind of upheaval I know. Don't any of you forget that us here in the community will lend a hand if in need so never hesitate to ask.

Excellent idea. Just lets me know. Alot of people helped us for Katrina. I am in.

So that WAS you in the astrodome with your emaxx!!! :na:

Man I didnt even know this was going on and I live pretty close considering (NW illinois). I was just watching it on TV. Its so dry and hot here I never figured. Im glad you all are ok ! Im down with you guys if ya need anything. My house is small but I have alot of toys lol

Thanks guys. Like I said, I'm ok with the exception of some water in the basement. I just have to keep the dehumidifier on to keep moisture levels down until the water stops seeping up through the floor so I can remove it all (the majority of the water is making its way to the drainage hole). It's just an inconvenience for me and makes working on projects difficult. It's the thousands over on the east side of Iowa I really feel sorry for. Also, early this morning (~5AM) a levee in town Des Moines broke flooding the neighborhood there and the authorities instituted mandatory evacuation.

Flooded homes and destroyed belongs are bad enough, but those damn looters really irritate me. People that take advantage of others' misfortune like that should be shot in the face.

Damn, hope it carms down, we had a bad flood here a few months back and alot of homes were destroyed and it wasn't till then that alot of people didn't realise that their insurance doesn't cover floods

No we evacuated to Houston.:lol:

If that levee was built by an Army Corp subcontractor :whip: I am not not surprised. Down here they were using newspaper to repair our levees. Three years later the repaired breach is leaking and they don't know why.:slap:

Looting doesn't end after the flood. When people were repairing their flooded houses, thieves would steal the worker's tools and copper pipes out of houses!

The levee was a known weak spot, but not much could be done for now. Apparently, it was designed in the 50's and not done quite

Stay Safe.
 

Hey BrianG sorry to hear about all of the flooding up there. We wish you well and God bless:angel:. When you were talking about finding high spots in your basement in one of the other threads I kind of thought you were in that area. Stay dry man.:lol:

we have some flooding in Canada as well.. but the only thing in my area that was out of the ordinary were golf ball size hail... luckily it only lasted a few hours... but it did a lot of damage... we'll be expecting our insurance to go up.. home and vehicle..

Damn, think God's pissed for some reason.

We had some some serious rain here earlier in the day, sounded terrible and lasted for a few hours beofre the cloud cover started to ease up. Thankfully I live half way up the hill/valley so Im fine- its all the business' downtown on the level that tend to get flooded, see pictures in the papers the next day of canoeists paddling up and down the road....

Take care guys.

My heart goes out to the people affected by th flooding. Glad to hear your ok Brian, and I agree about shooting looters in the face! let em have it!

Sheesh,

After looking at some of the pictures, this is just unbelievable. I listen to news radio and they've been saying flooding in in the Midwest, but seeing it is a whole different story. What a bummer. I hope everything works out as well as it can for everybody. Good luck.

Brian,
My thoughts and prayers to all who are affected by the flooding. It is a terrible tragedy. As teknorc stated above, reading about the disaster does not allow people to understand the magnitude of destruction unless they see it. For those of you who live there...hang tough!!