Cedar Rapids Flood of 2008
Today is one of those days that I'll never forget. They've been talking about flooding the past few days and have been evacuating people from their homes. Woke up this morning to a severe thunderstorm and a short power outage. Stayed home to make sure my sump pump remained operational and to watch how things downtown were going from the local news station. It's hard to fathom all of the destruction going on not even 5 minutes away from my house. I'm one of the lucky ones that still have a house and power. My back yard is a little water logged, but I've got no complaints with that. It is going to be difficult to only use water for drinking as we have been advised, but it certainly beats the alternative of no water at all (which the news stations are warning might happen very soon). Over 8,000 people have been evacuated from Cedar Rapids alone, and another 10,000 are without power, not including the houses that have been evacuated. Those without power have been told to expect to be without power for a week or more. I can't even imagine that. We are so spoiled with the technologies of today. The river is supposed to crest tomorrow morning, but the estimates are that the water levels will remain above the flood stage for at least another week. We're only supposed to get a little more rain tomorrow, a break on Saturday, and more rain Sunday. Luckily, there's no rain in the forecast after that.