The Cedar River started rising on Sunday evening and alerts were going out that it would be worse than the floods of 99 & 93. We didn't live here then but I know it was bad. All three bridges in town were closed. Since I didn't see it, I have had trouble comprehending it.
So back to the floods of 08. Early Monday morning when Boyd went to work he said that the water was almost over the road at the ski club. I went out just before lunch time to run some errands and to check on my Mom. At that point the water was almost over the road close to Brown Lane and also the ski club was still threatening the road.
Downtown was a flurry of activity. Shop openers and apartment dwellers were carrying out anything that could be damaged by flood waters. There were also trucks filled with sand driving around and dropping off product where it was needed. Lots of people were out helping to fill sand bags. I ended up getting caught in traffic trying to cross the Bremer Ave bridge. There was bumper to bumper traffic and I was caught on the bridge through 2 lights. I have to say I don't like bridges in general but to be caught with that much water flowing under me and feeling the bridge bounce when the dump trucks were crossing, I was almost ready to freak out.
I was shocked to see 1st St NW closed with water over Kohlman park and most of 1st St. Again there was a flurry of activity with people moving and sandbags going up. I made the loop around the lot where the new Walgreens will go and was surprised to see no sandbags around the 300 block of business. The 200 block of business had stacks of sandbags 6-8 high. The 100 block had very few sandbags although it looked like people were just getting there.
I ended up on the East side of the river headed to my Mom's. I stopped in to see Mom and started picking her brain on the floods of 93 & 99 to see how in the world Boyd could get home that night. I knew the river road would be closed and 1st st was already closed. We decided that he should take the really long way home. Head up 63 to C33 across to Horton Road and then home.
Mom and I headed out to run errands and grab a quick lunch. She was shocked at the number of cars out, I think that's the busiest I've ever seen the town. It's not even that busy during the horse sale and we joke that it's busy then. While we were shopping we heard a rumor that a dam north of us had broken. So we cruised through McyD's and headed back to her house. Since I had the Grand Prix, I didn't want to get caught away from home.
On the way home, I was shocked at how quickly the water had gone up.
Here's some perspective this is the ski club on an average day
Here's the ski club on Monday
It was quickly covering the road close to Brown Lane. Luckily there was a drier spot between the river and a large puddle so I was able to get home.
A bad pic but you get the idea. The cars behind me didn't seem to want to wait.
Shortly after I got home a neighbor called and said the water had breached the road at Pelican Park. She also let me know that the alternate entrance was open and the trailers that were blocking the road were gone.
Murphy edition where we live sits up off the river and the only way in is on the river road. In situations like this there's gated dirt road off a dead end that takes us to the main road. It's a pain but at least we can get out.
Later in the afternoon I heard that the rumor of a dam break was not true and the dam was holding steady. That was good news. They were still forecasting the river to crest at 18.2 on Tuesday evening.
I talked to Boyd before he left work and asked him to pick up some bread and milk on his way home. Since I wasn't sure we could get to a grocery story here in town by the time he got home and there's a Hy Vee right next to the hospital where he works.
No comments:
Post a Comment