Who is being affected by the Midwest Flooding?

D

Dave S

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Oct 3, 2006
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Upstate South Carolina
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Things are sure a mess out there from all the pictures and reports I have seen on TV. I would imagine that boating is curtailed severly too which is secondary I am sure to anyone who has lost a home or business.
 
The Milwaukee river is purging all branches stumps and debris into Lake Michigan at an alarming rate. Our marina is pulling out huge quantities of debris every day from fire wood to whole tree trunks.

We live on one side of the Fox River and work on the other. The detours have been crazy and double our travel time. I-94 from Milwakee to Madison has been closed for some time now. All Dams are under a watch. No boating has been issued for many inland lakes. We have never seen the likes of this in our lifetime!
 
I live about 10 clicks west of Cedar Rapids....in addition to homes and business lost, there was a community of boat houses afloat in Ellis Park. A few of them broke loose whiched caused a domino effect and tore a bunch more loose, along with house boats, canbotes, runabouts etc....They all floated down and were smashed up against a railroad bridge....there might still be some pictures of it at www.kcrg.com

I helped a small community, Palo, sandbag. The flood water came too fast and too deep for the sandbags to do any benefit. The entire town of 800 had to be evacuated.

If I could just add, I have seen the coordination between local, state, National Guard, and FEMA during this event....simply impressive organization. Most residents and business owners left when told to do so. Those that didn't think the water would effect them were greeted by law enforcement or military and were told you have 5 minutes to grab what you need because you are being evacuated. The media is calling this a mini Katrina....not so, you won't of hear homeowners that lost everything bitching because they don't have a $500 check card in their hand, they just want to get back to their home to see what they have left and get on with their life.
 
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We are just getting all the run off from up north. This past weekend I buttoned up the boat to ride out the flood. As of yesterday I can no longer get to my boat. It looks like my marina is in the middle of a lake. They are predicting the water to be at the 93 record levels around us. It's going to be a real mess for a while and they have shut down the river to all boat traffic. I just hope it goes down as fast as it is coming up... But then again, I wish it wouldn't come up at all. To many lives affected by all of this.

Last weekend as I was securing my boat it looked like a mass exodus from the neighborhood next to the marina. POD containers at every doorstep, trucks piled high with peoples belongings. Right now, they all have at least 3 feet of water in their homes and the river is suposed to rise another 6' before it crests on Monday.
 
Stray Cat said:
The media is calling this a mini Katrina....not so, you won't of hear homeowners that lost everything bitching because they don't have a $500 check card in their hand, they just want to get back to their home to see what they have left and get on with their life.
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Its nice to hear the government has learned a few things about massive evacuation of civilians in a disaster scenario, but lets be fair, there were plenty of Katrina survivors with the same concerns as everyone else.

I saw the police and military blockades keeping people out, as well as keeping people IN. I saw people hearded 800 miles away from their homes, when they had friends and loved ones in the next town who could have taken them in. I was offered hundreds of dollars just to take a family to the nearest airport.

The media in your area obviously didnt spend enough time focusing on the hard working, families and business owners who have been back at ground zero rebuilding thier lives and the lives of their neigbors. Yes I know there were some low lifes who could only focus on scamming the government. But that wasnt the norm.

I drove a bus load of good people from New Orleans all the way to friggin' Arkansas where they had to sit on a bus for an additional 24-36 hours, and figure out how to put thier families back together. I dont think any of the 55 people on my bus or the 100s that I interacted with really cared about a piddly $500. The majority of them had money, (BIG money), but were being hearded around like animals and couldnt use it.

Once again Im glad things are different with this disaster, but these folks will get thier little government cards just like everyone else whether they want it or not. FEMA will setup the remainder of thier trailers, And many of these good people are going to be in bad shape because they dont have flood insurance. But that wont keep the insurance companies from finding additional reasons to screw them over.

I just wish I was closer and could help in this time of need. My heart and prayers go out to ALL affected.
 
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Like Stray Cat, I live west of Cedar Rapids also (how far is a click?). We had water in the basement and running through the detached garage like a river all from the ground water rising up through the foundation. That only lasted a week and our only loss is a room full of carpeting and some drywall repair, nothing compared to the cities that were inundated with flood waters. This is the second time in 15 years and hopefully the last.
 
FEMA & the Red Cross was sure good to us & thousands more across the Nation

I heard today the Red Cross was out if money & may have to borrow $$$
 
DCarl320 said:
The media in your area obviously didnt spend enough time focusing on the hard working, families and business owners who have been back at ground zero rebuilding thier lives and the lives of their neigbors.
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If you're refering to the national media, they sure didn't. However the local TV and radio stations gave 24/7 excellent coverage and provided invalueable info on shelters, and direction where volunteer help was needed etc...
I didn't watch the national media during this event. As you say they don't focus on the good that people are doing to help each other. They just want to wade in as deep of water as they can and roll the camera...

If you could be here to help, you would be most welcomed with open arms....
 
RiverRat said:
We are just getting all the run off from up north. This past weekend I buttoned up the boat to ride out the flood. As of yesterday I can no longer get to my boat. It looks like my marina is in the middle of a lake. They are predicting the water to be at the 93 record levels around us. It's going to be a real mess for a while and they have shut down the river to all boat traffic. I just hope it goes down as fast as it is coming up... But then again, I wish it wouldn't come up at all. To many lives affected by all of this.

Last weekend as I was securing my boat it looked like a mass exodus from the neighborhood next to the marina. POD containers at every doorstep, trucks piled high with peoples belongings. Right now, they all have at least 3 feet of water in their homes and the river is suposed to rise another 6' before it crests on Monday.
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RiverRat...I was wondering about you and Skolbe. Are you guys at the same marina? Is your house in jeopardy of flooding? This has been a very weird year for water....just 2 weeks ago were able to able to walk on our dock...they added some ramp extensions. We have been taking a pontoon boat out to the dock, which has been a pain in the rear!! Keep us posted about what is going on in STL.
 
Our marina is flooded. The clubhouse at our marina is expected to have 2 feet of water in it. Which is a shame, since they just remodeled it. I am in the back section of the marina, but the slip is no longer accessible. We pulled all of the food out of the fridge since their is a risk that power may be cut. The marina is well water, so I filled the water tank since, I am sure their is a risk of the well being contaminated.

The liveaboards are the ones that have some significant issues. Since they can't get to their boats. Who knows how long it will take for the river to get back to normal. I suspect within a week of the crest, I will be able to get to my boat, but others may take another week or so.

Riverrat is about 3 miles downstream from me.

My house and Riverrat's are far from any of this. The areas that flood are primarily agricultural areas or areas where the local governments gives tax incentives to build a Walmart.
 
To say the least it has been a wild ride this year at our home port the Saylorville Lake Reservoir just north of Des Moines. We are 55 ft above our normal pool. Here's some pics....

The main [Current Only] entrance to our docks last weekend. Just a little bit of debris.
IMG_0419.JPG


Parking is a bit of a problem. Below is the parking lot.
IMG_0425.JPG


Here is the Admiral with some of our slip nieghbors. The Bridge in the background normally has 50 FT of clearance from the waterline to the bottom of the bridge.
IMG_0432.JPG



Needless to say it is going to be a very long summer with these conditions.

Cheers,

Jim
 
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Bottom Line, Skolbe pretty much covered what's going on at the river. I did just the oposite of him though with the water. I emptied my tank instead thinking by the time I got back to the boat the water would be pretty stale. To give you a bit better of an idea of where our marina's are, mine is about 2 miles upriver from Grafton IL. and Skolbe is about 5 miles upriver from there.

They are bringing down the crest levels due to all of the levy breaches, so it looks like we won't get to the record levels of 93.
 
Good news - we are going to be able to get to our boat.

Levee's are breaching quickly which is hurting some people however - so not good news for those living in flood plains protected by levees.
 
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My dry stack marina in pool 14 of the Mississippi at LeClaire, IA is closed but dry. The river is too fast and too full of logs and stuff to even think about boating. I live way up the valley, about 4 miles from the river but the aluminum plant where I work (Davenport Iowa) is only 1/3 mile from the river and has 2 feet of water against the South wall. Sandbags and pumps have kept the plant dry and we have had no impact on production or shipping. Streets are flooded and blocked off so getting around in the Quad Cities is a bit of a hassle. My lawyer in Cedar Rapids has offices in a historic bank building that had six feet of water on the first floor. All that pales when compared to the many who are homeless. We're telling ourselves "So what (that we can't boat). At least we have our home.

Dennis
 
skolbe said:
Good news - we are going to be able to get to our boat.

Levee's are breaching quickly which is hurting some people however - so not good news for those living in flood plains protected by levees.
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I wonder if I'll be able to get to mine this weekend... I'm gonna go out there and check sometime this weekend. The wifes already got the honeydo list going:smt009 since we can't boat.
 
The honeydo list is for winter...
 
This is definitely a sad scene. I was up that way last weekend visiting in Grafton, IL. The water levels were high when we were there. When leaving on Monday, the road north of highway 3 was already closed and flooded. I had heard the locals talking about the levels were expected up another 6 feet. Hearing about it on TV is one thing, but seeing it is another.

It was a beautiful area. We will go back. Hopefully the water level declines fast.
 
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