Dear Family & Friends~
Our land line is no longer working (heaven only knows when that will be fixed), and our DSL at home has been down for two days now. I am at someone's office using their computer to get word out. Went to two wi-fi cafe's and could not get on...... If you desperately need to contact us, use:
Scott's cell is 319-
Susan's cell is 319-
The flooding situation has become much worse here in eastern Iowa. The 100 year flood is about 20', the 500 year flood is 24' and as I type this we are at 30.4' and hoping to crest at 30.8 later today. For those of you who know CR georgraphy, the water has completely flooded the east side of downtown CR. Water is up to the railroad tracks. The National Czech Museum is under water, Smulekoff's Furniture Store first floor is entirely under water (not to mention the basement), US Bank (formerly Merchants National Bank) has their first floor flooded (safe deposit boxes are in the basement-we don'have one there thank heavens), all downtown stores and offices on street level are flooded all the way to the RR tracks. The 1st, 2nd and 3rd Avenue bridges are completely under water. The railroad bridge near Penick and Fordt (now Penford Products) was weighted with railroad cars and has been completely collapsed by the power of the water. There is another railroad bridge closer to Quaker Oats that has been weighted with cars in hopes it does not go with the water. We also do not have mail service because the main post office is flooded.
We lost power for about 4 hours yesterday (rain storm related-not flood), when it resumed I hurriedly did about 4 loads of laundry from our NYC trip (returned Wed. night). After I finished the last load we were notified CR was going to consider turning off water and we were to fill tubs and gather water. I quickly took a shower thinking it might be my last for awhile. This morning they are requiring us to use water for drinking purposes only. We are throwing a bucket of water from the hot tub down the toilet when necessary. I did violate the rules when I washed my face and brushed my teeth this morning.
Some people are worrying about sewer backups, we have no reason to think that will happen to us. We do have insurance in that unforseen event.
Mercy Hospital has flood waters on it's ground floor and is having to evacuate patients from the hospital. I heard some are going to Independence. Both St. Luke's and Mercy are in the evacuation area and have had their power turned off--and are on their generators. The Linn county Courthouse and jail were evacuated yesterday and the prisoners are in secret locations. The air views we have been seeing on TV show the entire downtown area from 5th Street East to 8th Street under water.
We have been told the best coverage (although ours is pre-empted by local coverage) is on ABC News (Charles Gibson) at 5:30 CDT. The Good Morning America coverage this morning had one of their anchors in downtown CR and said he had seen a lot of devastation, including Katrina and that this area was worse than Katrina! Hope that puts it into perspective. The difference between here and New Orleans is that we have good civic leadership, planning that has been implemented and evacuated homeowners are not screaming and yelling into cameras. Much more civilized we midwesterners!
I don't know when the next time will be that I will be able to communicate with everyone as things change hourly for us! We are so much better off than about 4,000 homes that have been evacuated to date--not to mention the employees that are out of work at flooded businesses.
We go to Door County Saturday, 6/21 and will have internet access at our condo.
Love,
Normally a tiny little rivulet, the ditch is probably a good 3 feet deep.
I was hoping that you weren't adversely affected by all the flooding. Did it affect your crops or your cattle?
