Flooding in Des Moines, Iowa...my hometown.
Interstate 35/80 is NOT suppose to be surrounded by water.
Thousands of volunteers have been out sandbagging. My friend, L, (the one I went to Paris with)...personally sandbagged about 400 yesterday.
I believe this is North High School. I'd been there a few times, now it's all submerged.
Fluer Dr. Yes, that is a road. It's just now become a river.
I was in Des Moines for the big flood of 1993. Apparently that was nothing compared to 2008. Yes, in '93 we had no running water (ironic considering how much water was outdoors), but the flooding now is much worse than then.
Thankfully, my parents are fine. They've had a bit of water in their basement, but nothing that they can't take care of. Neither them, nor any of my friends, that I know of, have had to evacuate. Des Moines was wet, with some flooding, but surviving until the levee failed Friday night. Now many have had to leave their homes. Cedar Rapids, is just a complete disaster and I truly feel for them. My mom has said Mason City is without water. And fields of crops have just been destroyed.
It is so weird for me to be in NY. I remember 1993 so well. After all I was in the middle of it. I don't know how to describe what I'm feeling now. It's so hard for me to be on the outside looking in. I hate getting my news only via CNN or the national news. Because of my friends and family I desperately want to know what's happening when.
I ask that you keep everyone in Iowa in your prayers. Many are going through difficult times and some have lost absolutely everything. The power of water is just unimaginable until you see it personally.
For more information on the 2008 floods, visit www.desmoinesregister.com
I'm very glad to hear your family is doing well and out of harms way at the moment! I live in St. Louis, and we're experiencing flooding as well... not to that magnitude YET, but it's on it's way. This past March, the suburb I live in actually became an island as we're surrounded by a river on three sides (our neighborhood is safe, luckily). And that was without a lot of flood water from the North.
ReplyDeleteMany of our levees are already starting to fail. Hard to believe that after all that work and tax dollars going to build them and we were promised they'd hold through anything that they're failing.
I'll be thinking and praying about your family!