Living through the floods.

[courtesy of Blog for America]

Well, I will say that the government trucks did get up here to Iowa. Lets just say that even though there were passable roads it took some time for them to get here.  Their excuse?  Well, they had no where to unload the stuff they were bringing, so ALL of the trucks had to sit and wait until there was a free building...uhhhh why couldn't they bring the trucks full of water up and just open the back door? Mason City had no drinkable water.  The old saying "water as far as the eye can see, but none to drink"worked mighty fine in this situation.As the days dragged on my friends in Mason City who were heading up the Red Cross efforts were saddend and upset by the promises of "trucks coming soon". Thank God for the surrounding area stores and resturants for providing much needed supplies.  A lot of those places were next on the hit list for the 500 year flood!  But they stuck around as long as they could.

People from all over Iowa came to help. It was a wonderful thing.  But once again goverment assistance was the last on the scene. People were in each others basements and yards helping with the hard work of trying to save the things that were important to thier neighboors.  There were broken ankles, wounded hands, feet, knees and faces.  Mud everywhere.  Tears and frustration.

Mayor Chet Culver was everywhere at once it seemed.  Deep concern in his eyes.  I would not want to be him right now. He had the right people in the right places at the right time.

The Iowa Democratic State Convention was to be today.  It was cancelled for the first time ever.  I was ready to go stand for Sen. Obama.  But that will be another day. I am busy pumping water out of my basement anyway.

It is amazing to me the power of water.  It has taken down bridges and levees that have stood for over 100 years and even a brand new bridge just built a year ago.  The way it has carved a new landscape is almost wonderous, although scary at the same time.  I wonder, as the water moves its way to the ocean how it will change things.  What about all those propane tanks that floated away?  How about my friends siding that got swept away? The cement bridges, the metal bridges? the dolls, beds, roofs, dressers, safes, animals and other things?  Where will they end up? Another question? How come these 100 and 500 year floods keep coming every 5,10 and 15 years. Should we change the name?