tamara b

Rain, More Rain and FLOODS
I thought Friday night would be good to cuddle on the couch and listen to the rain and thunder while watching the sky light up with lightning. Things didn't quite work out that way. It did storm alright. But our evening included watching the weather on TV, preparing to go the the basement because of the tornado and then finally going to bed. We got 4.5 inches Friday night. We live up on the hill so the most damage we saw was some erosion going into the pasture. The pond is full though and the overflow pipe ran full the last two days. Town, which sits nestled along the Turkey River, is close to flooding. Mom and Ralph who moved here in the last few months now have lake front property. All the bottom land fields are flooded. Dikes didn't hold - the water broke over the top and has been rushing in. Lots of debris coming down the river. Gilbertson Park, on the East end of Elgin is completely flooded. All you can see is the tops of playground equipment and the picnic shelters.
Elkader, where I lived before I met Ryan, and where I continue to work is flooded. The Turkey River flood stage is 12.0' and I think its currently around 18.0' The basements of all the buildings along the River are flooded. This is a 1 in 500 year storm meaning we should only see a storm like this every 500 years. This area of NE Iowa saw similar storms in 1999 that wiped out several communities. Well, five years later, its happening again. Littleport, Elkport and Garber were all wiped out five years ago. Today, the only difference is the # of houses that were wiped out. When this last happened, most of the communities moved to higher ground. Some stayed and now they are trying to salvage their things once more.
From a conservation standpoint (since thats the field of work I'm in), fields are flooded, terraces have washed out and pond dikes didn't hold. As I drove to work this morning you can see trash and residues all in the fences where the water was rushing through and more than 3 feet deep. It will be an interesting few days/weeks as this gets all cleaned up. Hopefully it won't take long until roads are open again and travel can continue down some of the main roads around here.
In the meantime, today Ryan and I celebrate our 1 year anniversary. Our plans aren't going to quite work out with the weather. He planned on taking me fishing since I haven't been in so long. But since you can't tell the difference between the creeks and the fields and since they're forecasting more storms tonight, we'll have to appreciate other things. So a big yipee to a God who has sustained us and our relationship throughout the past year.