About the flooding

From For Blog

The Missouri River, August 2008

When Russ typed on Skype that he was going to call me last night, I knew something was wrong. He had already said he was heading for bed. That meant he had just gotten news about something. I started going through lists of things to be worried about, including the bills we had just been discussing.

The news was not what I expected. It turns out the town I am living in is about to get hit by a major flood because the dams up north have to release water. This is a predicted flood, and while the city is scrambling to do what they can to minimize the problem, I am still in the 'up to 2 feet' range last time I looked. Some areas of town are in the 'up to 8 feet' range, so I'm really lucky. It turns out that I'm actually on the highest point of the city, which really isn't saying much since this is river plain between two bluffs. Great farming land, of course, but you have to watch that river. I've been here well over 30 years and this is the first time we've had to worry about river flooding, though. There's been street flooding from heavy rains, and flooding by the river, but not this far in. I'm about ten blocks from the river

What I am not so lucky about is that Russ is in New York, I am in Nebraska, and I not only don't drive, I don't have a car anyway. (Yes there is one in the driveway. It hasn't moved for three years now. The only way it will move for this flood is if the waters get too high.)

This kind of limits what I can do at the moment. If things start looking bad, the best is to move important things from house 1 where I live to house 2 next door, which used to be Russ's office. House 2 has some advantages for a flood. Though it is smaller, it's higher off the ground. It has a basement, which would take some of the water while house 1 is most likely to be pushed off the foundation. House 2 has an attic room where I can put the most important things and hope for the best. It has some bad things, like the water pipes froze and broke the first winter Russ was gone and we haven't had the money to repair them, so the water is turned off. Well, if the flood is so bad I must go there, the water system will be compromised anyway, so that's nothing to worry about.

To be honest, it is doubtful I'll get anything more than maybe curb high here, but we needed to do a discussion of 'just in case' because if more storms make this worse, I need to be ready. It has been distracting, but I can't let the problem drive me crazy for too long. This is going to be an ongoing situation. The waters will rise for the next two weeks at least. They say the flooding will remain until September.

The people at the city have said that city services (water plant, power plant) should be fine. I will be gathering water anyway. I have some old soda bottles that I'm washing out and can fill. I'll store them over at house 2.

Oh, the comic books. I need to put them on the list. Certain books, a few odds and ends, but I am counting on this being a no-event on my end. It's already an event elsewhere -- the Missouri river is already flooding areas before they do the more massive water release. I just learned that one of my two favorite wild life refuges -- De Soto -- is closed. I'm betting the other one will be too. This is especially true because Russ plans to come home in about two weeks, and that would be where we would normally take our day trip. Since his trip coincides with the height of the water release, I'm betting we'll be around home for the three or so days he'll be here.

Right now all I have to deal with is excessive heat (91f/33c) and no air conditioning. So far the humidity isn't excessive so it's not as bad as it can be. I have a nice fan in my office. The trick is keeping the cats off the desk so I can work.

Which is what I need to get back to doing now.