Ark, Anyone?

Before















After


Wow, what a whirlwind few weeks! I live in one of the Midwest towns that has had all-time record flooding in the past couple of weeks. Praise God and heaven above...I live on a hill. Away from the river that cuts through our town. I was fortunate. I only lost internet service. Oh yeah, it sucked. But I'm a big-picture girl: being without internet is "unscathed" compared to what others have gone through and are STILL going through.

Back in 1993 when I moved to CollegeVille, I arrived in town as the cleanup from the summer flooding (record flooding, then) was winding down. I began working at a local restaurant that had been particularly hard-hit, ironically just after the owner had opened his business! Water had been up to the bar. So you can imagine, about 4 ft deep or so. This business is a good 500 ft or more from the river bank. It seemed crazy to think about.

Now I have seen it first hand. The water has receded, and the flood plain looks (in Plato's words) "like a desert." Mostly because it's covered with mud. All the landscaping is toast. And the waterline at my old workplace? Just above the doorframe. So about 7-8'. A full 3 ft above the previous record. It would be incomprehensible if I hadn't seen the evidence myself.

(Here's George Dubbya flying *probably* right over my house to get this view. I'm that close to all this!)

JeepMan's boss lives on the river in Collegeville. In the first area that floods if the river comes up at all. Back in '93, she and her husband had the house raised about 4 feet as the water had reached their first floor. This time, even with the floor-raise, the first floor was underwater. They are checking into a FEMA buyout. It just isn't worth it.

So I'm back online, and traveling every week for the next 4 weeks to help open a new account. I'm considering relocating, just because I'm actually busy here and there are 2-3 more accounts set to open in the near future. The area is nice, and the people are great. It's a lot like CollegeVille, just a bit further from "home." We'll see. I tend to start making plans waaay before I need to. I'm so NOT spontaneous.

More later. Thanks to everyone who is sticking with me. And sorry I haven't been around your blogs either. Kinda goes both ways. I'll try to play catch up soon!

Here's the Apartment I lived in in College. There's an entire first floor beelow the water level!

Here's a final Before & After of a city in the area. Notice the 3 bridges in the before that are nearly invisible in the after. These bridges are about 24' above normal river level. Wow.