Well, that river crest that was predicted at 24.7' turned out to be a 32' crest. CRAZY doesn't even being to describe what happened in Cedar Rapids last week. It's been a wet spring preceded by a very wet winter, which resulted in saturated ground that just couldn't handle the 5" of rain that fell last week.
We were prepared, so prepared we didn't even plug in our sump pump, which led me to wonder how much sump could a sump pump pump if a sump pump could pump sump? I have no idea, but we stocked up on water and batteries and said, bring it on! On Tuesday we knew we were in for it when our neighbors to the north, Waterloo and Cedar Falls suffered from record setting flood levels. Wednesday low lying areas were being evacuated. Thursday brought another 2" of rain and riverside neighborhoods & the downtown district, nearly 9 square miles, were covered in water.
Interstates closed. Power went out. Water restrictions were instated. Local news anchors got zero sleep. Girls camp was rescheduled (boo!). Sandbags were filled. Homes were lost. Hospital closed. Communities came together. Downtown main library lost. Sewers went out. FEMA arrived. Rain stopped. Sun came out. River receded. BIG mess left behind. Tetanus shots recommended.
We live on top of a big hill, so flooding was never a concern for us. The satellite map below gives a great vantage point (if you zoom you can read street names). If you click the down arrow twice, you will see the Cedar River in the bottom left corner and Cedar Lake (scene of the Goose Attack). Between Ellis Blvd and Shaver Rd was nothing but water. It even reached almost to J Ave, which is our backyard (at the bottom of the big hill). Without that big hill, which by the way I HATE running up, we'd be in line for FEMA assistance right now and living in a FEMA trailer down by the river. I love our hill now.
The business by Cedar Lake included one major Alliant Energy site and the City's water treatment plant. Hmmmm....
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3 comments:
GEEZ! I'm so glad to hear you all stayed dry, but WOW! I'm so sorry that everyone else is dealing with such a tragedy! Good luck with the coming clean up. I know it will be yet another way to rally the community together.
So glad you guys are good to go. Sorry about everything else though - yikes! Meanwhile we are having a heat wave here in so cal. Ugh. Good luck drying out.
I have been thinking about your family so much lately and am relieved to hear all is well. I tried emailing you but the email came back--then I noticed the blogspot on the bottom of the Christmas card. Spent the last hour reading about you and it has been great!! Good luck on the yard. Taylor's haircut is gorgeous! I am definitely trying the strawberry-rhubarb cake. Please write back!
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