Photo courtesy of the Marshalltown Times-Republican

If you follow me anywhere else online, you’ll have seen by now the various flood pictures I’ve been sharing (seriously, much like the water, they’re all over – both my personal and public Facebook accounts, Flickr, Instagram, and soon Pinterest as well).  Despite that, I’m going to post some more here anyway.  The extent of the damage won’t likely be truly realized for a long time yet, and the recovery will probably take years if this turns out to be anything like previous floods have been.

I know I’ve mentioned the Flood of ’93 several times already, but we had another major flood just five years ago that I had forgotten about until a friend mentioned it on Facebook.  I mean, I didn’t really forget, but I had forgotten that some of the severe flooding had been so close to us.  All you seemed to hear about was what happened in Cedar Rapids and Iowa City, but there was plenty of severe flooding in the Waterloo-Cedar Falls area, too, and I had forgotten that.  I think the reason that ’93 is stuck in my head has to do with my mom; seeing all the photos she took of the local damage really imprinted the severity of the disaster on my tender little psyche.  The flooding in 2008, while devastating, just didn’t have the same personal connection for me that the floods of ’93 and ’13 have.

Anyway, we drove through quite a bit of the flooding again on Monday as we tried to get home from the in-laws’.  We didn’t really have any trouble until we got to the Albion turn-off, where there was a big “Road Closed” sign.  I wasn’t surprised; the water had been so high the day before that I was surprised the bridge was open then.  So we kept on and went through Marshalltown, avoiding the area under the viaduct.  We took Main Street east out of town, our plan being to go home the back way, but when we got to the edge of town, there was another “Road Closed” sign – the bridge a mile or so out of town had washed out.

Photo by Garry Brandenburg

For the most part, 30 was fine.  But there was one place between the Meskwaki casino and Toledo that had flooded horribly, and the water was still rising.  I was snapping pictures with my phone and when I looked later, I could see water seeping onto the road through the crack between the bridge and the guard rail.  When we heard later that evening that 30 had been closed due to flooding, it didn’t take long to figure out where.

Once we got past all that, we didn’t have much more trouble getting home.  A couple local creeks were so high that I wondered if they would wash out the roads, especially since there was rain predicted every day for the rest of the week, but it hasn’t happened yet.  And at least where I live, it hasn’t rained yet, either, thank goodness.  An hour after I wrote that sentence, it started monsooning. *sigh*  At least the water appears to be receding a little, so that’s good.

Photo by Kay Kauffman

I know I said I wanted a nice, full river for tubing this summer, but this is ridiculous. 😛

Marshalltown wasn’t the only isolated town; I heard that Hudson was down to one point of entry and exit also, thanks to flooding and road construction.  Other towns have been forced to evacuate.  When residents return, they’ll have a colossal mess to clean up, and I don’t envy them that chore.  Cleaning up my basement is going to be bad enough, but a little rainwater is nothing compared to what a river leaves behind.

Keep the Midwest in your thoughts, please.  And don’t ask for anymore rain.  At least not for a while. 😀

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Related articles

• MARSHALLTOWN FLOODS: Close To Record Levels (whotv.com)
• IOWA RIVER: Marshalltown Preps For Crest (whotv.com)
• Iowa River Flooding Raises Concerns (kcrg.com)
• Flooding Impacting Eastern Iowa (kcrg.com)
• ZEARING FLOODS: Apartment Evacuated (whotv.com)
• Floods sweep through Marshalltown (timesrepublican.com)
• Marshall County Road Update (kixweb.com)
• Iowans Deal with Closed Roads, Flooded Basements (kcrg.com)
• Concerns Rise In Cedar Rapids Near 5th Anniversary of ’08 Flood (kcrg.com)
• The Corridor’s young residents reflect on flood memories (thegazette.com)