Felt like we just got done with Winter. Snowstorm, snow and sleet, snow this, and snow that. We were bombarded with the snow, it made the transition from Winter to Spring rather unnoticeable. I honestly felt like Spring was not going to happen at all.
And now, while Spring is finally here [and almost gone], it was not behaving nicely either. Apparently Lady Spring thought, “Well, if Father Winter could do it, I can too!” And swoosh… came down the rain. Lots and lots of them. Four to even seven days straight full water/hail pouring down from the sky. Our county has gone from thunderstorm watch, thunderstorm warning, flood watch, flood warning, flash flood watch, flash flood warning, tornado watch, and tornado warning. Because of the thunderstorms at night, the kids have been sleeping with me (including Max, our pet) while Dad evacuated himself to the basement. The four of us on my bed curled up like shrimps, close to each other, with our heads under the pillows; attempted to reduce the boom! noise and the bright lightning.
Midwest has been hit the worst by the rain. Iowa, mostly. Many places were either flooded or hit by a tornado. Late May, a tornado hit Parkersburg, IA; killed 7 people and injured at least 50 people. Parkersburg is about 83 miles from Ames -the town we live in- and only 30 miles away from where my in-laws live: Denver, IA. One of my husband’s cousins live there and her house was flattened by the tornado and is now homeless. Looking at the aerial picture of Parkersburg after being hit (or video)was like looking at a demolished war zone. No buildings remain, just piles of debris. One could not tell where downtown was anymore, or location of houses. Can’t quite tell where one used to live, because the street name was blown away and other landmarks were destroyed.
About a couple of weeks later, a twister hit Little Sioux Scout Ranch (advanced Boys Scout camp) in western Iowa, near Nebraska state line. The twister struck as Iowa, like other midwestern states, was dealing with severe flooding along the upper Mississippi River. Four children were killed, while 40 were injured. From what I read, there was a group of scouts who were out hiking at the time of disaster. Seriously, weren’t they aware that bad weather is approaching? Don’t they have some kind of weather alert system, radio, or TV? But I guess there’s no point in questioning all this. Don’t cry over spilt milk, they said.
The overflow Cedar River forced Cedar Rapids, IA, to evacuate the Mercy Medical Center hospital. Isn’t that crazy? How’d you able to evacuate hundreds of patients in a hurry? Post op patients, elderly patients, patients on wheelchairs, not to mention complicated ones; what a frantic situation I bet it was. The engorged river flowed through Cedar Rapids’ downtown. Hundreds of city blocks were under water, and in some neighborhoods the water was 8 feet high.
Des Moines, Iowa’s capital city, was also flooded. Many of its resident left after a voluntary evacuation request issued on Friday, June 13. So was Burlington, Coralville, Davenport, Iowa City, and more.
The town we live in, Ames, was not flooded as bad as those towns. ‘Just’ a golf course and a couple of streets/parks were flooded. I was actually driving on one of the main road one day, going from work to downtown. I was amazed when I drove back for the same route, the road was closed because it was flooded. I was just driving on it 35 minutes ago and it was fine! The raging South Skunk River was just overflowing so fast, the officials weren’t anticipating it at all, I guess. Judging from the last minute road closed and traffic detour. What usually takes 15 minutes ended up being a 45 minutes deal due to traffic.
Last Saturday we went on road trip ‘to see the flood’. I know it sounded sad, but we were just intrigued. We heard that the U.S. Highway 30 between Boone and Ogden had to be closed because of the flood. We usually drove on that road to go to a state park, and the scenery around it is so pretty. Not boring flat or corn field-y like most of Central Iowa’s scenery, but hilly and curvy. We weren’t the only ones who were touristing the sites, others too. They were just watching… being a curious human being. Some were taking pictures/videos, and some went kanoeing! I couldn’t believe it… some people were actually took their canoe, loaded it up on top of their vehicles, took their kids along with them, drove there, and went kanoeing! That’s pretty risky, I thought.
Now that the rain had stopped pouring like crazy, the flood had decreased little by little. Everybody’s question is now, “What’s in the water?” Other than mud, there’s some scary shit stuff in it like naxious brew of sewage, farm chemicals and fuel. I read somewhere in the paper that the water just reeked of pig feces and diesel fuel in Oakville. Ugh, I couldn’t even imagine how horrible that is.
What about the stress level? Your belongings are destroyed or long gone, you have to live in a shelter (mostly a high school gym) with strangers, the worn out volunteer and Iowa National Guard who was working on the levees, you either still have to clean up your super messy house or find a way to rebuild your house, your medications were swept away by the flood, questionable of safe water to drink, tetanus from the nasty water if they got a cut/laceration, and not to mention mosquitos.
How stressful. It’s probably not as bad as The Great Midwest Flood 1993, but still…
PS: Thanks to the writer, for your concerned comment in my ‘Saya’ page. We’re safe and fine. Our part of Iowa is on a higher ground.
good to know that you’re safe and fine, din…
thank you, mel.
herannya, musim banjir di jakarta kok gue gak takut main banjir yah waktu kecil. gak mikir kalo airnya kotor pula *geleng2 kepala* yang penting senanggg…
though i feel so sorry for the flood victims, i felt so worse about the boy scouts. how frightening it was for those kids. how scary it was to hear those horrible whistling sound then to see that everything around you is either flown away or collapsing…
First of all: Sad stories. Glad to read you and those dear to you fortunately are safe and sound though. Never imagined people could run the risk of serious flooding in that part of the world.
The information here is that for all the casualties and damage, at least on a general level authorities handled the situation much better than what city, state and federal government did during the New Orleans disaster. Some lessons seemed to have been learned.
As you write these kind of flooding has happened in the past. One may expect the same could occur in the future. Are there any plans for a structural remedy? For instance the kind of approach which has kept our feet dry for centuries – with one major exception by the way- in the “below sea level Delta called the Netherlands” ?
@colson: very sad indeed. cedar rapids (eastern iowa) used to claim itself as the city that ‘would never flood’. but it went 12 feet under this year, despite the fact that they were able to not get flooded in 1993, 1966, and even 1851 when the cedar river raised up but managed to stay within its banks.
i’d love to hear the officials proposal about ‘plans’. but in my humble opinion, the government should stop wasting money for iraq war and focus in bettering the infrastructure here.
i’m no expert, but i’d love to see those levees built better so they won’t break easily. same goes to dams. stop or limit making the sea of apartments where the fields are. maybe they should reconsider the decision of adding water into the lake of saylorville, iowa, to make it deep enough for touristy purposes.
itu yang pada canoeing apa nggak takut kalau tiba-tiba ada kejadian mendadak yang terjadi ya? (knock on wood tiga kali). jadi inget pas gue liputan banjir di jakarta beberapa tahun lalu. jadi, ceritanya hujan udah nggak ada, tapi genangan banjirnya masih dimana2. tingginya seatap rumah! ada seorang anak yang dengan isengnya berenang. yang terjadi kemudian, dia menghilang selama beberapa hari. pas ditemukan, dia ada di bawah selokan (yang berarti jauh dari permukaan air). ternyata ada semacam gelombang putaran yang menyedot si anak dan membuatnya terperangkap di dalam selokan, hingga dia ditemukan dalam keadaan meninggal.
gue merinding aja baca ada orang malah canoeing gitu. anyway, gue sangat lega dirimu dan keluarga baik-baik aja din.
iya fit, gila aja! they just assumed that it’s ok to go la la la canoeing in the flooded area. even parents with kids! some people are just ignorant like that…
Holy sheet those flood pictures are beyond!