Some of you may know that Nick is from Iowa and all of his family still lives throughout the state. So when the storms started rolling in and the river levels rising our concerns were growing. His immediate family is fine. His parent's home is not near the cresting Cedar River and neither is his brother and soon-to-be sister in law's home. A round of phone calls by Nick cleared college friends as well. Everyone, and their homes, are safe and sound.
But after speaking with his mother the other evening I could hear just how terrible the floods were for the area. "Just devastating," she repeated. "Devastating." Especially with the tornadoes the floods have wiped out so much. She said it is going to take years to recover.
The town Nick went to college in, Cedar Rapids, has eight feet of water in its downtown streets.
Count that out... 8 feet. That is higher than my office ceiling I'm sitting in right now.
His mom also said how awful it was for all of the farmers whose crops, which are supposed to be about waist high by now, are under water. There are some areas where all you can see from the sky are the tippy-tops of the grain silos.
While watching it on TV can be sad enough, please remember to keep the Midwest, especially our beloved Iowa, in your thoughts and prayers. Because once to water is pumped away everyone is going to have to face the cleanup and rebuilding.
Downtown Cedar Rapids Flooding
Credit: New York Times
Rural Iowa Flooding
Credit: The Gazette, Cedar Rapids
Downtown Cedar Rapids Flooding (the building on the right, City Hall, is actually on an island in the middle of the Cedar River)
Credit: The Gazette, Cedar Rapids
_edited-1.jpg)
2 comments:
I can't imagine...I'm sure they are thankful that they aren't too badly affected.
wow. it makes it so much more real when you connect people to such an awful event. you know?
Post a Comment