First of all, thank you to all who kept us in your prayers!  Other than the flash flood that we had last Thursday night that also spawned tornados south of town, we have been keeping safe and "high and dry".  But that doesn't mean that others in and around our city haven't been affected by the raging rivers wrecking havoc throughout the state of Iowa.  Driving around our city, here are some of the sights that we encountered:

First of all, I will introduce my fellow flood inspectors.  Our two boys are sitting on the right side of the bench and their cousin is on the left.

As you can see, they take their job very seriously.   

IOWA... that's where the tall corn (and floods!) grow.

The building below had recently opened for business.  Notice the "NOW OPEN" sign.

These last 2 pictures were taken on the west side of town (near Walmart).  This flooding resulted from a swollen creek off of the main river which runs through town.

The next 3 pictures show major flooding south of town...

Rabbit Run Road

There were lots of houses/trailers that got flooded out along the river here, but thankfully, the residents were warned last week to move their belongings out before the water rose too high.  Also, the high school building has been opened up to house those who have been displaced.

This next picture was still taken south of town, but was on the other side of the river...

Here, you can see the "flood inspectors"... um, well... inspecting.    We were really surprised to see the road totally gone.  The boys and I had just driven down it last Wednesday!

The rest of these pictures were taken downtown along the river...

Market Street bridge was closed, as you can see the water has reached the bottom of it. 

Across the river, you might be able to see the huge "canisters" filled with sand.  This was a different approach that I had never seen before.  Sure beats all that sandbagging! 

Also, with the water near the top of the levees, we have seen lots of bow-fishers. 

This young man happened to shoot two gar fish with one arrow while we were watching.  The boys... er, I mean "inspectors"... were pretty impressed with his marksmanship!  But, I was a little saddened since it appeared that he was just doing it for sport. 

The stores down near the river were closed and sandbagged, just in case the water made its way over the levee.  I think it made the boys feel pretty good that the city was using the sandbags that they had helped fill.

The Iowa National Guard soldiers had just come back from their latest tour in Iraq.  Like the saying goes, "No rest for the weary!"  They were put right to work driving trucks filled with sand and dirt and keeping the streets clear of traffic so the constant flow of trucks could do their job.

One of the major concerns in our city was to keep our drinking water from being contaminated.  They accomplished this by building up a berm all around the waterworks plant.

Also, the railroad through town was shut down.

The rainbow painted on the side of the waterworks plant (in the middle of the picture below) shows how high the flood of '93 got. 

As you can see, the flood of 2008 didn't surpass it... in our city, at least.  They estimated our river crested at just under 21 feet.  Yes, there was flooding in the outskirts, but for the most part, we were able to keep dry.  But many think that it was due to the different levees that had broken on upriver.  This caused the water to disperse over many acres of land instead of continuing on its journey down south and making the river rise even higher.  Des Moines and Cedar Rapids were some of the cities which fell victim to these breaches.

The latest report was that the river level has begun to drop.  Yay!  But all of these rivers have to go somewhere... and that is on to the ol' mighty Mississip!  This morning I heard that they are asking for volunteers over in Burlington to help sandbag, so I guess the Flood of 2008 continues...

~Connie~