[Happy2Bhere]

Anyone else affected by all these floods?
I live in Iowa- right now, I have my father in law here, & my sister & her husband.
The town 30 miles away that my entire family lives in- is totally flooded- they have no power, no generator, no water, sewer- nothing! The town emergency generator failed- it's terrible! The area of my town that my father in law lives in- is totally flooded-
I think CNN has all the latest coverage- just curious if anyone else is affected by all this flooding.
If anyone wants to see it all- do a search for Cedar Rapids Iowa or Vinton Iowa-
Good luck to all those who are in the flood zone, or have family members in it.
Melissa

[KarenInCa]

WOW. Is it common to have floods this time of year in the midwest?
Thanks for the update, please keep us posted.

[jessibird]

I am so sorry they are having to go through that. We were under a flood warning here all last weekend and early this week, but the rain stopped as the rivers reached peak. Your family is in our prayers!

[Happy2Bhere]

This feels like 911- I can't stop watching it on the news- and it is practically in our back yard. We actually are safe, and dry- but have two families with us due to one being flooded OVER his roof- you can't see the top of his house, and the other due to loss of electricity in their whole town. (Vinton, Iowa)
National guard is here, sandbagging efforts failed, two or three bridges collapsing in our town alone.
This is so unreal! Hard to watch news coverage with my father in law- as they show the peak of his house.
So sad.

[Karen in MT]

Melissa,
So sorry to hear about your family, friends, town and State in such a frightening situation. We have very unusual weather here lately with cool temps and lots of rain. On Tuesday, it snowed hard all day which is very unheard of, but nothing like the devastation that you all are going through. I'm sure that there will be much help, prayers and thoughts going out to the entire midwest. Keep us posted and take care! -Karen

[PiperH]

Flooding is terrible.

In 1986, long before I ever met Violet, the house I was living in got flooded out. The water ended up about 3 feet deep in the house. The one good thing was, I was a bachelor and didn't have a lot of possessions, so I didn't lose a lot.

I can remember going inside the first time after the water receded. There was yucky, slimy river mud all over everything. I would never wish flooding on my worst enemies.

My thoughts and prayers go out to everyone.

Kevin

[imdmom]

Originally Posted by KarenInCa

WOW. Is it common to have floods this time of year in the midwest?
Thanks for the update, please keep us posted.

Yep! We're in St. Louis and we get all of the downflow from both the Missouri River and the Mississippi River! We had it horribly in 93 and 95. It's been flooding all over Missouri and Illinois. Luckily, our city is pretty high up so we are not "directly" affected by the floods but other towns right along the river are not so lucky. We do expect all the rivers to rise around this time since we get all of the excess water in those 2 rivers from way up yonder up north! I can only imagine how it is when it hits Louisiana and Mississippi!!
Nancy
LID 1/30/07

[Karen in MT]

Missing Melissa --- Melissa, I sure am wondering how things are going for you. Guessing this might be real tough times. Just hope you and your loved ones are safe. Write us when you can! -Karen

[Lumpkin]

I have relatives/friends getting called up to active military duty to sandbag and run pumps. Our town has 2 of the 4 roads in/out closed due to flooding, and another very close to being closed (currently sandbagging), but our home is dry. Our water supply is in danger of being contaminated by flood waters right now, so hopefully I can get out of work asap to go help do my part sandbagging.

[Happy2Bhere]

Hi everyone-
Thanks for your comments.
Our house continues to be dry- and is not even in the projected 500 year flood zone- I doubt we'll get wet, but the entire city is going to be affected. Our electricity keeps going out- so they don't have surges, when shutting down affected areas or starting some areas back up.
My father in law totally lost his house- you can only see the peak. My husbands sister has water up to the last step in her basement. The town has lost 3 out of 4 wells- so we're at 25% water capacity, and the last well is being threatened.
When they shut off electricity- our sump pump gets high- but now we bought a generator & a battery operated back up for the sump pump- but those are minor compared to being right in the flood zone.
I just can't believe the pictures- if you type in Cedar Rapids Iowa or Vinton Iowa- you'll see what's going on. Even a few miles out at Coralville Iowa- they are going to get this all in a few days.
Lumpkin- where are you located?
Good luck all- and thanks for the well wishes!
Melissa

[Lumpkin]

Melissa, we're southeast of DesMoines. We have nothing like what we're seeing from the Cedar Rapids area. Most of the flooding around here is not much worse than it looks on our most rainy parts of any spring/summer, except for the immediate areas around the DesMoines and Skunk rivers that have completely flooded out. We ran out of sand, so no sandbagging right now :/

Rumors are that our wells are going to be contaminated soon, but we have a backup system inplace.. and we personally have water storage at home. HEY! Maybe I'll get to use the generator I bought last year during this whole thing.. I love new toys! (gotta think about something good from all of this).

I looked at the flooding around where we used to live in northeast Iowa, and it looks like we'd have about 1.5 hours of detours just to get to work on the other side of a small town, if we still lived there. Yikes.

Sorry to hear about your relatives homes. Between Tornadoes and flooding, a lot of friends and relatives are being affected this season. At least you have your family safe though. That's all that really matters right now.

[dannysgirl]

Hi Melissa,

Just checking in with you to see if you are still safe and dry. I grew up in Cedar Falls Iowa and was shocked to see the town featured on the Today show on Wednesday. My parents and brother still live in Cedar Falls (they are safe and dry so far), My sister is in Eldora and my niece is in Des Moines.

It is unreal to see all the water in Cedar Rapids. The last flood I saw that wasn't even close to the flooding now was in 1999.

Stay safe!

Karen