Midwest flooding

[Per Walthinsen]

I'm trying to comprehend the situation in Iowa and thereabouts and I'd like to know if anyone has heard from Roger in Tipton, IA or anyone else in our group who might be in the path of this monster?

[Chester Taje]

Roger has gone to a (I hate to say this ) Airstream get together.His town of Tipton is ok and safe. He will be back in a day or so.

I also have been watching the news from Iowa and things look bad.

[CindyL]

I just returned from Iowa. I beat the closing of I-80 (at the Tipton exit) and made it back to Chicago. I was at at 2 day conference in Des Moines that was let out early due to flooding. Two ladies from Cedar Falls (not Cedar Rapids) left almost as soon as the conference started and took a day and a half to get home, because there was only one way into that city that was open. This is the river that runs through Cedar Rapids.

I am originally from Iowa, not far from where Roger is. We had the "100 year flood" in '91 and then the "500 year flood" again in '93. To let you know how bad it is, the crest of the Cedar River through Cedar Rapids in '93 was 19 feet. This flood crested at '31 feet.

My mother says that she has never seen so much rain. It just keeps coming. Many of my family live in Cedar Rapids but they are safe.

Iowa City is due to crest on Tuesday, higher than it has ever been also. The Main Library of the University is already flooded. Luckily, my dissertation is on an upper floor. However, Lindquist Center, where I spent hundreds of hours on the computers as I worked on my dissertation, is in danger of being flooded. Of course, people and the losses they face, are the real tragedy.

If you want to see what is going on, check out the pix on www.gazetteonline.com. The Gazette is the Cedar Rapids paper and is being produced through generators right now.

And all of this is headed for the Mississippi.

CindyL

PS: Good thing I did not stop to see Roger on my way to Des Moines. I was in a hurry to get home to Anamosa, and he wouldn't have been there anyway.

[Bonnie]

And here in the Saint Louis area we've had 'regular' spring flooding for some time now. The Iowa water should start showing up in the next 24 hours. They aren't predicting a 100 level flood like in '93, but who knows?

I cross the Mississippi and Missouri each day to get to work. Both rivers are barely handling the huge amounts of water coming south. I know a lot of effort is going into watching the levies and the earth dams in the area.

Keeping all those in the path of the destruction in my prayers.

[CindyL]

I can't believe that they are not predicting a big flood in St. Louis, considering how much is coming out of Iowa! Kevin just got back from Moline with stories of the flooding.
Do they have big flood gates in St. Louis? We had them in Cape Girardeau when we lived there.
I remember how the levees broke last time. They are breaking in IA.
My brother, aunt, niece, and nephew all live in Cedar Rapids, so they are dealing with little water but missed what others are going through.

Cindy

[Gail Shook]

The flooding across the state is bad. Lost my tow vehicle to floodwaters in Ames on May 30. Then this past Friday we were looking at implementing emergency plans in Des Moines (where I work) in case the levees broke in downtown.

I have good friends in Cedar Rapids, Coralville and Iowa City. It is difficult to comprehend the amount of damage water can do. There is going to be many months of clean up. (Just trying to recover some items from my truck was gross and smelly, I can't imagine a whole house let alone a whole city!)

I have been following some of the flooding in Iowa City through the blog of a friend in Iowa City at www.iowaunderwater.com
He has links to various other sites along with a section of pictures.

More thunderstorms are scheduled for today. We need to get whoever started the rain dance to stop dancing soon or the whole state is going to go under.

Keep us in your prayers. It is going to be a long summer of clean up.

Gail