Flooding

[sundial]

Since Friday, our town has experienced flooding. The Black River crested to 26.4 feet with flood stage being 17 ft. I took some shots of the flooded river which hasn't crested this high since 1926. Our home wasn't affected by the flood, but the river has caused 2 major highways to be shut down.



This is the Black River.



This park is located just below the bridge. As you can see, everything is under water.



Crossing the bridge and approaching Don's Steakhouse and Wal-Mart. They sandbagged the parking lots and so far the water has not entered the buildings.



This street is located just past Wal-Mart. By Saturday, the water had risen even further inland causing flooding at the intersection.



This street is located 1 1/2 miles from the bridge. The Police Training Academy is seen in the background. Water completely covered the fields and the only thing visible was the road in some sections.

[Starfish]

Wow, Sundial. I am grateful that your home is OK...and also, my heart goes out to those who have not been so fortunate.

[Tuckervill]

Glad you're okay, Sundial!

Karen

[bouncybouncy]

been thinking about all you mid-westerners...my parents live outside St Louis no danger in their neck of the woods but it is apparent to my Mom who can not go anywhere cause everything is a mess!!!

Glad you are ok SD...and hope all the others are doing ok too!!! My heart goes out to all those flooded...water can be both evil and great! Here we are in a drought and talks of water restrictions...no planting beautiful flowers because we can't water Thankfully I have taken the drought resistant route in what I have planted...

crazy weather....

[bmccasland]

And its all coming to New Orleans! We're watching the river rise and wondering what level of safety "valves" will be opened. There's the bypass to Lake Pontchartrain, the Bonnet Carre ("Bonny Carry") that opens first, and the ultimate - the Morganza Spillway which will divert additional flows down the Atchafalaya (A chaf a lie a, all short "a"). Old Man River keeps wanting to go down the Atchafalaya, and he might get his chance.

Hope your levees hold. Those of us down river are holding our breaths.

[emily_in_nc]

Wow, Sundial, those photos are dramatic! Glad you haven't been affected directly, but I'm sure many, many people have. You don't say exactly where you are located. My in-laws are in Ohio and have mentioned scenes like your photos show. They are getting a little seepage in their basement but have everything up on blocks so are okay so far. Like bb says, we are in drought here in NC (tho' it's eased a bit recently thanks to some rains the past month). It seems that everyone either has too much or too little water. Hope it will all equalize soon. We'd be happy to take some of it off your hands (but not ALL of it!)

Emily

[liberty]

My house is safe too, but my drive to work was shut down at the Interstate, and the easy access road to my house was closed due to flooding. I work within the levee zone in Valley Park, so we were hoping and praying the levee held. Nothing like wondering if you should or shouldn't pack up an entire office building and send everything to high ground.

If we had received another half day of rain, the river would have backtracked via the creeks all the way to my house, as it was it only made it half way. But everything is going down quickly. Word on weather.com though is that we have more rain the rest of the week.

[bmccasland]

now that I've actually seen the photos, Wow! (for some reason, sometimes photos won't load on my work computer, which has high speed, but will load at home on dial-up, go figure)

Since I'm working on a "Flood Damage Reduction" project - don't you just LOVE government speak? Anyway, an urban flooding project... one thing that we have to look at is whether or not structures flood, if it's just streets and parks, it's considered a local problem and not a federal interest - think about whether or not claims will be made on Flood Insurance. My project is in a community where they were stupid enough to allow excavation in the subdivision roads, to build up the land where the homes were built - and now the home owners complain that they're stuck either at home or on the highway after a heavy rain. Home owners yell at local politicians, who beg for help... But since no homes are flooded, not a federal problem - although we can lower water levels because of flooding in adjacent neighborhoods (homes and businesses). The things I've learned in the past few years....

Anyway, I hope the water has crested, and y'all don't have to discover the joys of dealing with Flood claims and FEMA.

And if you're looking at more rain - get things up off the floor, to a second story if at all possible. The ground is saturated, so flooding could be worse. I'll send you some of our sun if it'll help.