Rain, Rain, Go Away...

For a landlocked state, Iowa has an amazing amount of water.  Bordered by the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers, aside from these two mighty rivers, the rest of the state has numerous rivers and creeks.  With the torrential downpours we have received over the past few days, these normally calm and peaceful rivers and creeks have become raging walls of water.

Central Iowa has seen a lot of rain this summer, and there has been some flooding at various points throughout the season.  Storms the past few days though have brought inches upon inches of rain, each night, to the point that a flash flood last night washed three cars of the road, tragically sweeping one woman away.  The pictures of the flooding around parts of Des Moines, and especially north of here in the Ames area, are unbelievable.  Aerial photos give a unique perspective of the extent of the flooding in and around Iowa State University, and other photos are available here, here and here. 

Driving around today, it was hard to believe that tiny little creeks could become raging rivers.  We live on a golf course, and I can't begin to say how happy I am to live on the side of the course we do.  Our neighbors on the other side of our area now have what seems like a lake in their backyards.  Four Mile Creek, normally just a couple feet deep and a few feet wide, has taken over.  A few photos I've taken today are included in my Picasa album. (This is my first attempt at using Picasa, please bear with me!)

2010 August Flooding - Des Moines area

I am so appreciative of the fact that, at least for now, we are safe and dry.  Too many people today are not as lucky, and my heart goes out to everyone who is dealing with everything from wet basements to complete loss.  We get a brief reprieve tonight from the storms, which hopefully will help, but the forecast says to expect more again Thursday night.  Right now, more rain is the last thing that we need here.