I live in a river town in iowa not a good combo at the moment I live on the edge of the city of ottumwa and will be fine, officials say that the levees wil hold but they said that in other iowa cities as well.
Prayers of strength & goodwill for all the folks there, Bryan.
I attended Camp Sunnyside in 96 as a Counselor at the tender age of 19 & got brought back to site in the back of the Sheriff's car after being picked up staggering back with friends from Mother O'Malley's. I then had to be rescued after falling down a 40ft drop embankment on the way in. That Sheriff shoulda carried me & set me into bed out of trouble. As it was I was showered in my clothes in case of poison ivy & then put to bed. There was another time I was showered by a friend after a night out after coming back rotten dirty from falling all over the floor & then as a special thankyou I managed to chip his tooth in my recklessly throwing my head back whilst he was drying my hair. Very stupid & silly of me. Luckily he had it fixed for free since.
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Progress not perfection.. & Practice makes Progress!
Haven't looked on a map to find what river your town is on. I'm in Illinois so m pretty familiar with what your state is going through. My county and serveral surrounding ones have been on, under, in "flood" watches/warnings/alert so many times since Feb. we don't take for granted those rare days the sun appears. In all that time my basement has had an inch of water because tiles have collapsed. Getting these repaired has been a headache! The flooding caused damage to the furnace, hot water heater, and washer. UGH! NEVER knew what a sump pump was until this year. Farmers who rent the ground around me..... some corn planted late to begin with, in spots will have to be replanted or simply lost. My assumption is the latter. One guy was out til after midnight working the ground this past week and returned really early the next day to plant beans. Sandbagging has went continuously for the past week in the towns lying on the Sangamon River, a fork of the IL. River. Entire fields look like lakes in some places along the route I take to/from work. Yet we have been blessed that in this area, not one life has been lost to these storms or the water they have dumped and the structural damage has really been minimal. the Nat. guard is waiting for word as to whether they will officially be called to help residents along the Mississippi which is said to crest around Mon/tues. near Quincy. they are preparing for sandbagging details and possibly evacuation of that little city and some smaller ones south. Newscast here speak of it being worse than when the flood waters came in the early 90's. I suspect my son will not enjoy this as much as he did then, when he waded through our back yard where it was only 6inces deep. LOL One would think that everyone would be taking every precaution to be on their guard and not try to tempt fate. Two young men decided otherwise........blew up and air mattress and tried to "ride the rapids" of the Sangamon this past week. Didn't get to far. Debris puntured their "rafted" which deflated rather quickly and they found themselves caught up in the waters until each respectively was able to get hold of something to stay afloat. Some residents nearby seen their dilemna and called the rescue teams to fetch them out. Out they came, alright, only to find themselve in HOT WATER for pulling the stunt. Both were hauled to the county jail and fined for disobeying the NO SWIMMING/BOATING warnings that have been posted until these waters recede. So Bryan, yes very much understood what you are going through. From our lips....... here's hoping SOMEONE can "tweek" these jets streams that the central part of the country seems to be caught in so we all can dry out a bit.
"We tend to forget that happiness doesn't come as a result of getting something we don't have, but rather of recognizing and appreciating what we do have. "
Wow. I am praying for all of you affected by the flooding. How devastating. Ithas been a dark time in our nation with Katrina, and the war, and tornadoes, and now this. I pray that God will help us all to stay strong and help one another out, as we have done in the past.
Bryan and Learning, you are both in my prayers, as well as the folks in your areas.
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~~"It's hard to be hateful when you're grateful."~~