This flood is NUTZ!

[TooManyFords]

30 minutes ago we lost the railroad bridge across the Cedar River in Waterloo. NBC Nightly News just setup across the street from the Ice House in Cedar Falls where the water will hit an all-time high of 103. It is expected to go over the levee there in Cedar Falls sometime around Midnight.

Gotta go help sand-bag.

Later.

[ImpalaSlayer]

man you guys are getting all kinds of **** up there. all we get is humidity

[Black Dynamite]

Same thing here in CR. Roads closed all over the place. Mass evacuations and shelters being set up in local churches. Stay tuned kids, should be something to watch to say the least...

[Mad1]

You guys stay safe.

Here's the Iowa emergency management agency's tips for flood safety (http://www.iowahomelandsecurity.org/Portals/0/Disasters/FloodingFacts060408.pdf).

Mad1
Jeremy

[Bigdogjim]

I have been through this in '05 and it is no fun. I feel for you guys, I really do.

God Bless! I hope and pray for the best.

[whd507]

hope y'all get through it all right.

when we moved back to the Midwest from the left coast, we purposely picked a house on a high hill just for this reason.


seems to me, we need to build big pipelines and or aqueducts to siphon off some of the yearly flood waters from the Mississippi watershed to dry parts of the country to irrigate crops in the deserts, and to help drought areas.

[my_rodder]

My sister lives in Waverly. She was told to leave 2 days ago. She lives a couple blocks from the river, she had water yesterday up to the first floor. Ducks were swimming in her driveway:eek:.
Not very good here. they say 3 to 6 inches tonight. I just got done with my basement 4 months ago. that all has to come back out:(.
GOOD LUCK!!!!! I thinking of you. TooManyFords must have finished sand bagging, heard you were in ames. My parents LOVE your car!!

[sailsmen]

Good Luck and stay safe. You can always rebuild.

The people that lived in areas with names like Lake View & Bayou St. John got some of the worst flooding from Katrina/Rita.

[crouse]

John, Keep dry. Are you going to pick up part of the Power Tour? I might drive to Rochester tomorrow afternoon. Curt

[MarauderTJA]

John, please be safe and careful my friend. I sincerely hope things are OK for you and your family. That goes for all members here that have been dealing with the flooding in Iowa....be safe.

[1stMerc]

That much water is no joke. Be careful up there.

[Black Dynamite]

Really starting to get bad now.:( Theres 1 bridge open across the river in the whole city.

I had to wade the Marauder through the flood waters to get to work today!:eek: NOT COOL...


Going to be worse tomorrow too.

[Eric91Z]

The lowered the flood gates at Saylorville the other night and the river levels have risen down here, too. Many roads in central Des Moines, especially downtown have closed. Fluer Drive and Euclid are closed in areas. The downtown Des Moines bridges going over the river have bene closed for a couple of days now.

Residents and businesses in the Des Moines downtown area on the 1st and 2nd floors of buildings have been working on relocating the last couple of days. And we have also heard that the QWest and Verizon POP's are potentially in danger to flooding which, potentially, could cut almost all land lines in and out of Des Moines.

Definitely lots of water, but I think some of the changes they made after the floods of 1993 are helping. I think things would be much worse if the new levees hadn't been built. And at this time the Des Moines Water Works plant is saying they are not in danger and we should not loose water supply like we did back in 1993.

Like they said, it is a 15 year cycle...

On the other side of the state, Iowa City (home of the University of Iowa) is getting lots of flooding, too. Last I heard at least 1 of the residence halls on campus was closed.

And, to top it off, this severe weather we have been having included the tornado that ripped through Parkersburg, IA destroying close to 200 homes and a tornado that went through a Boy Scout camp yesterday killing 4 teenagers and 14 more in the hospital, too.

I know, not on the scale of the Hurricane devistations recently, but definitely something to worry about none the less.

This link has some video for the flooding in the area:

http://www.kcci.com/video/16578376/index.html


If you look at the "Torrent Rushes Out OF Saylorville" you get a shot of the lake side of the Dam and then they go to the spillway side of the Dam. The lower edge of that shot is a cement walking path that follows the outlet and sidening of the water. Just a couple of weeks ago that water was easily another 10 feet or more lower than it is now. You could actually drive down, park, and walk that path and watch the water coming out of the spill way. too dangerous now...

[sailsmen]

You get 2 different types of Flooding. Surge which comes in and out and rising waters that do not fall for weeks.

The latter can destroy a house that only had 3' due to everything getting moisture damage.

Whats important is your health don't risk it for things you can buy.

When a community is destroyed those whose homes were not damaged are just as traumatized as those whose homes were damaged. I had to tell a few co-wokers just because my seat is dry doesn't mean we are not in the same boat.

[Aren Jay]

We know all about this flood, we are having it too.

Now it hasn't flooded too badly around here yet, but then there is a reason I live 75 feet above the river/water level.

[FordNut]

Really sad to hear about this. Hope it quits really soon.

A couple of the many ramifications of this flooding are coming soon: First, watch out for used cars from the region. Like Katrina's aftermath, there will probably be a bunch of flood-damaged cars on the market after the water recedes. Second, food and fuel is gonna take a hit again. Food beause of the flooding of the croplands and fuel because of the same thing, less corn for ethanol which is added to gasoline. And since we have a law requiring ethanol in gas, even if there is plenty of gas available we won't be able to buy it if there is no ethanol.

[Eric91Z]

I heard on the news last night that the water plant in Cedar Rapids is only able to produce at 25% of normal capicity, so they are now looking at a fresh water crisis, too, due to the flooding there.

WhileDes Moines is definitely getting it, it seems like Cedar Rapids, Waterloo, Iowa City, and Southeast Iowa are getting it the worse this time - so far.

They are expecting Saylorville to crest Saturday or Sunday.

[duhtroll]

I spent Monday sandbagging the flood wall to my mom's house in Janesville, only to have the water burst in from under the wall itself. When that happened we went from "maybe we will get through this like 1999" to "let's start dragging crap up the stairs."

The 1999 flood was the worst ever there but they got through with just a few inches of water in the basement. We had a newer wall addition 2 feet higher than 1999 plus several rows of sandbags on it. We had pumps running and held it off until about 7-8 PM when the wall burst. We went inside and saved the guns and tools, then moved on to clothing and pictures, and then it was time to shut everything off as the water had almost reached the lower power outlets. We turned the breakers off and headed upstairs, only to hear the basement walk-out door and windows crash in minutes later. The sandbags had given way on the wall since we were no longer manning them, and they had crashed into the house. Good thing we left when we did -- that much water ain't nothin' to be messin' with.

I had my crown vic out there and almost left it there permanently. When the other volunteers left at 9:30 there was no water in their lane. When I left at 10:30 it was a couple feet deep and I barely got the car out, but mom and stepdad elected to stay the night as the water had 3 more feet to go before hitting the first floor.

2AM I got a phone call saying they had to take the backhoe (diesel, no spark and much higher ride) out of their property to get out so they could come to my house in Cedar Falls. Of course the city killed the power to the area just before they left, so they were in pitch darkness on a vehicle with no headlights, carrying a cat.

So we now have three new residents in our house until we can get their house restored. Stepdad tells me they got power today and hooked up the water, though it will need to be decontaminated before they can use it for drinking.

But on the upside, stepdad saved his 03 Marauder by putting it up on his trailer. :)

[Eric91Z]

Most of downtown Des Moines and most of the areas in the "500 year Flood Plain" were told to evacuate today. But on the news they were saying the Des Moines nad Racoon River levels were actually going down some.

I took the Crown Vic in today for new exhaust so spent most of the day watching the news and flood reports. Between 7:30am and 10:30am Principal Park (local AAA Baseball team park at the convergance of two rivers) went from the park being dry and water half a block away to water up to the stadium and the outfield starting to hold water. And this is a park that they say can get 3" of rain in an hour and be ready to play an hour later it drains so well. Just no where for the water to go.

And a mile or so stretch of the I-35/80 route on the Northside of Des Moines was pretty much three lanes of stop and go traffic as everyone felt the need to slow down and look at the water levels on either side of the interstate.

[Black Dynamite]

Well this is getting more fun all the time. We got cell phones and internet back online today. We are under water restrictions (no baths/showers/washing your car etc.) :(

Almost every road that has a low spot is flooded. Bridges washed out etc. What is normally a 7mile/15min drive to work for me is now a 20 mile/1 hour drive across the only road still open across town.


The river finally crested today. Flood stage is 12ft. In the floods of 93 the crest was 19.3 ft. All time record in 1929 is 20.0 ft. The river crested at 33 ft this morning. :eek: They predict the river will be back down to 1993 levels NEXT THURSDAY. And thats if it doesn't rain!

The destruction is utterly jaw-dropping. I couldn't adequately describe it here.

Heres a link to some photos of one of the bridge collapses. All of those rail cars were filled with sand to help weigh it down in the hopes of saving it.

http://www.kcrg.com/floodwatch/coverage/19876119.html

Theres a pile up of house boats that have come down river at the other rail bridge upstream.


The sad part is the party is only getting started for the people downstream from us.....

[sailsmen]

...........I know, not on the scale of the Hurricane devistations recently, but definitely something to worry about none the less.

...

~300,000 homes destroyed by Katrina/Rita.

[Black Dynamite]

You know what else is really starting to piss me off? Water restrictions means I can't wash my car. It's dirty as hell. Looks like total ass. Man this **** is annoying....:mad:


Sorry....just needed to vent a little....

[Eric91Z]

You know what else is really starting to piss me off? Water restrictions means I can't wash my car. It's dirty as hell. Looks like total ass. Man this **** is annoying....:mad:


Sorry....just needed to vent a little....

Road trip on down to Des Moines and you can wash it here!