Send some East. We've been parched for weeks. Not a drop of rain. Every hopeful dark cloud just passes right over.

I am always amazed by how powerful and destructive water can be. Once I fell off my tube on the Delaware River and was nearly swept away! I'm sorry the rain is giving you so many woes. I remember one summer when we had a lot of rain -- the impatiens were the size of azaleas. They loved the cool weather and rain. This year the tomatoes are loving the heat here.

Keep paddlin', Linda.

Whew! Pack your duckie and inner tube Linda!

I am in the area that is suffering from drought and heat like both FOAS and Ded.... Ded our friends went tubing on the Delaware last weekend and ended up having to walk/drag the tubes for almost 1/4 mile since there was just a trickle moving between the rocks. I have resorted to watering the tomatoes twice a day - they are in huge buckets, and they are still wilting by mid afternoon.....

I caant wait for snow!

Alexa

what a shame we can't figure out a way to spread all this water around...we got another 3 to 4 inches last night...you easterners could have had it all!!
Don't say snow....you better be getting our snow this coming winter!

The city of Ames, home of Iowa State University, is without water....not potable water but any water. Storm water caused a main to collapse, so the city shut down for a few hours to repair. close to 60,000 people can't even flush their toilet. we hope it will only be a few hours...but it could be as much as 24 hours.
There were 4 cars swept off the road just west of me. A 911 call brought rescuers to pluck people out of trees and off of car roofs, but one 16 year old girl died.
There is no estimate of how many homes and businesses have been ruined, but I will tell you the economic impact is huge.
And the sad part is that so many of those who lost everything were students and people living in small homes and mobile homes that were washed away.
And it was all an act of God...so unless you have a special very expensive insurance rider....not covered.
This was not a hurricane...nor a tornado...nor even a nor-easter...just too many days of very heavy rain. No weeks warning allowing people to put up hurricane shutters and pack up, just one night a storm stalled and dumped another 5 inches on already saturated soil.
In a small town 9 miles west of me, the Sheriff's deputies knocked on doors and told the people to evacuate. Many went to the Holiday Inn on the interstate....and then that too was evacuated.
I won't complain about a wet basement and a river in my back yard....
Linda C

Linda, they did a big piece on the national news about the flooding in your area. I'm glad to see you are OK. This really isn't something your expect to have happen in Iowa. These rains are every bit as devastating as tropical storms and hurricanes.

I really feel sorry for the many that have lost so much.
I hope FEMA has been called in.

Nancy

Wow... that is so sad. I didn;t hear about it on the news here, but we are still stuck in the heat warning cycle. And how scary that all that damage ocurred without any sort of warning! Not that a "few inches of rain" is deserving of a warning, but for that kind of devastation.... how terribly sad. And I hope FEMA is on the way.....

Alexa

Linda, sorry to hear this. Hope it dries up quickly. I feel for you all.

I didn't see the news piece on Iowa but I did catch part of a story about Western Wisconsin. It's happening there, too. We got hit pretty hard on Tuesday. At my house we only got about an inch, but in Souteastern MN they got 5 inches and had lots of flooding.

Stay dry, Linda. Looks like the kids may have to come and help bail your basement again?

Linda

Y'all have been getting poured on all summer it seems. I read today that the basketball floor at the coliseum is floating in five feet of water...still in one piece!! Not to mention the water supply problems you mentioned and property loss. They are telling us the jet stream is changing so we should be out of the major heat by Sunday. The 90's will be a great break. Hopefully that will put an end to the rain for y'all. The pics I saw today were something else. Hope your basement didn't flood again!

David

There are many losses in this round of floods that make me sad...but that basketball floor floating just a bit under water in the coliseum seems to be a symbol of how many this affects. The football team has their first home game in 5 1/2 weeks. Classes at the university start in 2 weeks.
My grandson went to school as a freshman in New Orleans at Loyola 2 days before they evacuated for Katrina. Pretty rough to go to school as a freshman and hightail it out with your lap top and the clothes on your back.
And I am not even considering those who were in the path of the water and lost everything.
Thanks, David....my basement is a minor annoyance compared to the total picture.
Linda C