Floods

Nothing like a little service to help you gain some perspective. I've had a rough week. Whenever things are not really going well, it's easy to find all the flaws that make everything seem wrong in your life.

Cedar Rapids is currently experiencing the worst flooding to ever hit the town. There are mandatory evacuations for anyone and everyone living within the 500 year floodplain. A 100 year flood has a 1% chance of occurring each year; a 500 year flood, .2%. I thought the chart below was kind of cool. The Cedar River which runs through the center of downtown is at 22' and expected to crest at 24.7.' Lots more rain (1-4 inches) is in the forecast for tomorrow.


We live on a great big hill and while the potential for us to lose power and/or water is a possibility, we will not loose our house. Residents of two small communities to the north of us, Palo and Vinton, are not so lucky. All of the youth from our ward and about 20 adults from the ward had the opportunity to sandbag in Palo tonight.