News of the massive flooding in Iowa is heartbreaking. Downtown Cedar Rapids is under water, with more water flowing in from the northern parts of the state, and the rain still coming down. Watch for the Dairy Queen on the AP video clip to the right....
Tom is fine....so far, he's high and dry in Mt. Vernon, which is 17 miles east of Cedar Rapids and two or three miles north of the Cedar River. (On the banks of which, by the way, Swine Boulevard and Madison Avenue are flooded...what IS the name of that little hamlet? Sutliffe?)
Deb's brother John and family are fine, but the business is not.
In Iowa City:
The buildings in the north part of the campus--the art museum, Hancher, etc.--are closed. All the art has been moved to a safe place.
The buildings in the south part of the campus, including *sob!* the library and English Philosophy Building, have been closed.
The Coralville Reservoir has gone over the top (yesterday or even the day before), and the Coralville Strip is flooded.
The IC DQ is fighting for its life.
I always feel a little bit worse when libraries and Dairy Queens get put out of use.
ReplyDeleteIowa City flooded in 93, the year after I left. Here we are 15 years on with more floods!
My heart goes out to them. I never realized just how awful and destructive flooding was until we went through our recent floods. The clean up is still barely underway weeks later. Huge piles of ruined things sit at the end of driveways waiting for the crews to come pick them up... People's lives are dramatically affected. Heartbreaking is the right, the only word.
ReplyDeleteThis is so wrenching, as were (on a smaller scale) the incinerations of two neighborhoods here in the Santa Cruz Mountains in the past fortnight.
ReplyDeleteI visited our veterinarian yesterday, and she is helping displaced families by providing shelter in her kennels for their pets, gratis. Do you know of anything specific we could donate to in Iowa, or would a donation to the Red Cross be best, do you think?
this flood will produce horrible effects for months ahead.
ReplyDeletesherwood, the animal rescue league of iowa was strained to the breaking point BEFORE the flood. i'm sure they'd be very grateful for any help you can give...even just kind words. http://www.arl-league.com
thanks, all, for your kind comments. the flood is really just beyond compehension.