Flooding

[uforgot]

We had the flooding in Central Missouri. Lots of students couldn't make it to school because of covered roads, and our neighboring school was closed. I went to KC on Good Friday and by the Gasconade river, there was only one lane open, and then it was completely shut down within a few hours. Kind of weird trying to find a way back home since so many of our roads were closed!

Glad the levee held! I used to live by Valley Mount Ranch when I was growing up, and it's been a while since Valley Park has seen this much water! I think we have pictures somewhere...was it 1982? Just glad your office didn't have to pack up. What a major hassle that would be!

[sundial]

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

It broke yesterday. Hwy 67 N and S to Pocahontas were closed to local traffic only. The water had moved north and was spilling over a bridge not too far from Williams Baptist College in Walnut Ridge. The road crew reported 4 feet of water was over the bridge.

You don't say exactly where you are located.

I'm in Pocahontas, Emily. And congrats on your new little one. She is absolutely adorable.

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.

Liberty, just when we think we're in the clear, they close down another highway. What's bad is we only have 4 ways to come into Pocahontas, and 3 were closed at one time. My friends who work in Walnut Ridge had to drive an hour out of the way to get to their job when it normally takes 20 minutes max.

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

Me too! I dealt with FEMA once before and it was a PITA. I volunteered to work with the displaced Katrina survivors from NOLA who were brought to a Baptist encampment not far from here. It was an eye opening experience working with the fed/state government.

I've wondered about the displaced wildlife. I have heard that a dozen deer were seen on the square of our downtown. 2 had tried to get in our church! One man drowned trying to save his dog.

Rain is in the forecast and please continue to keep the flood victims in your prayers. Some of the communities are completely shut off from receiving any assistance due to the flooding. The Salvation Army mobile disaster trailers are coming in now.

[sundial]

This neighborhood was just starting to flood on Friday. By Sunday water was in many of the homes.

[bmccasland]

I really hope people in the affected areas have flood insurance. Home owners WILL NOT cover the claim. They'll cover water damage in a home if it's from a roof leak or a broken pipe, but something like 2-3 houses adjacent to each other, have rising water, that constitutes a flood, and therefore claims would be under flood insurance. For many parts of the country, flood insurance isn't very much.

Please people, if you live in a river/stream valley, and are at ANY risk of flooding, fork out the few bucks and get flood insurance. If you happen to live in the "blow zone" for hurricanes, insurance can equal homeowner's premiums, but then there's no choice in the matter. For what it's worth, NYC and much of the northern Atlantic coast is at risk for hurricanes. Welcome to the blow zone.

[sundial]

Beth, I hope you guys don't get major flooding from our rivers. Keeping my fingers crossed for you.

[sundial]

This is an overlook that shows how far reaching the flood is. The Black River bridge can be seen in the background.



Heading north and approaching the bridge. Although the water never came over the bridge, it flooded the lower lying areas, including the Wal-Mart parking lot located adjacent to this bridge.



This billboard is at least 30 feet above the ground and the water was lapping the bottom edge by Saturday.





This park was just recently reopened. The water had covered the Century Wall and had covered the sidewalks close to the road. The road was just re-opened to traffic.

[Tuckervill]

I have a rental property near Little Rock. About 3 feet of one corner of a bedroom is located in the 500-year flood plain of a creek that is at least 300 yards away, downhill. As a result, we are required to have flood insurance. $1200 a year! Equal or more than our hazard insurance. It's a joke in this instance. I get hassled about it by the government every year. I don't know how people in actual flood plains get away with not having it.

Karen

[bmccasland]

You can thank some of those lessons learned after Katrina and Rita. Don't ask my why, but in some parts of New Orleans (the city proper), home owners whose homes were lower in elevation than mine (my neighborhood is rated -3.5 ft) were not, repeat NOT, required to have flood insurance, and many did not. It was very difficult to listen to the poor-little-rich-girl who used to sit in the cube across from mine whine about having 6 ft of water in her house, but they didn't have flood insurance - and her husband is an economist (poor-little-rich-kid too). OK, I'm cranky this evening for some reason, so I'll stop before I put both feet in my mouth.

Anyway, thanks to lessons learned after the hurricanes of 2005, more areas are being assessed for potential flood hazard, and folks are now being required by their mortgage companies to have flood insurance.

Oh, and better for parks to flood than homes and businesses. Bad for park, but better for houses. And all that green space absorbs the water better than streets and driveways.

[sundial]

One of the major highways was shut down again today because of flooding. The river is now at 22 ft--still well above flood stage. We had rains the last couple days and it didn't help matters. I still can't ride my road or mountain bike at my favorite locations because of the flood.

Anyone have a blueprint for an ark?

[sundial]

Oh, wanted to add, FEMA tried to survey the damage Monday but were rained out. Tell me God doesn't have a sense of humor.