Quick Flood Update

Not much to report in the Cedar Rapids area. We are slowly but surely recovering. The downtown area is being stripped bare of carpets, walls, and insulation as the first steps of clean up are underway. It is going to be a slow build but we will get it done. Cedar Rapids is not the kind of town to quit.

As for UrRelay, it looks like we will be moving to another temporary location, something a bit more stable than a college, until all the renovations can be made downtown. It will be a mess and an adventure all rolled in to one.

Now my prayers go out to all the folks that are facing record flooding a little father downstream, mostly on the Mississippi. Hopefully they can avoid some of the devastation we felt here as the floods continue to be big problems all throughout the Midwest.

Now just like in 1993, it looks like we may be heading in to a drought post-flood. Let’s hope we can avoid that, as no one wants any more price hikes on corn and soybeans.

That’s all for now. I will be back with a few more comments on the flood eventually as things continue to develop.

Moving Past the Flood

So the recovery process is slowly taking shape in the Cedar Rapids area and with it I’ve decided to try and move on to other things myself. Which means I am going to have to try to avoid the distraction of free use internet at the temporary call center at Mt. Mercy. Time to get back down to writing.

Tonight however I was far too exhausted to even put together a quality sentence let alone a paragraph or longer. So my plan now is to get back on track and finish the next Timeline tomorrow and Thursday if need be, and then go to work on some more Arc. We will see how far I can get in both this week. Hopefully a good day’s sleep will be able to help with both.

I will be taking down the Mean Streets blogspot page in the near future. My plan now is to integrate a revised version of the story on to the proper Metahuman Press. The blog format just was not working for me. I may experiment with it more later. We will see how that plays out.

Otherwise, it is the usual fun and games. I will continue to try and update this blog on a regular basis. I think with the access at the call center I should do a lot better.

That’s all for now. Later days all.

Flood of 2008: Update Monday... early

Iowa City still lies in danger, while the flood levels continue to fall in Cedar Rapids. We have dropped out eight feet in the last couple days which means we are in good shape for an early drop below flood stage. It is still predicted around Friday, but we will see what is going on.

I am thoroughly amazed at everything going on at UrRelay to keep thinks operational here at Mt. Mercy College. We are expanding in to a second room in the building and our tech boys are working like monkeys od’ing on caffeine. But they are setting us up with one wild temporary call center... which will almost certainly be gone within a week or two when we move to a more secure temporary location. It has been a wild and crazy experience.

In other flood related news, Father’s Day is postponed this year, at least in my household, as we have left Hannah at Grandma’s house for another week while the flood subsides a little more. On the brightside the city has opened another water center, which means we can now use water every other day. So even numbered houses get to use water on even days, odd numbered houses on odd days. So, yes, I am looking forward to a shower in another 7 hours or so.

Enough for now. Thanks for all the prayers, well wishes, and the such from everyone.

Flood of '08: An Update as the Flooding Subsides

While south of us the cities of Iowa City and Coralville, the worst of it has past for Cedar Rapids. After the crest at noon yesterday the water levels have come down about eighteen inches. Now we have the slow wait until the water drops enough that repairs can begin.

According to the National Weather Service site, we still have five or six days before we even reach the Major Flood stage level. It will be over a week before we even get down to flood level.

We now have days of water conservation ahead of us. No showering, no washing dishes, no laundry. The stupidity of it all is that we have not shut down all the restaurants, laundromats, cleaners, and the like around the city. Hence the water levels continue to fall and we will soon be in the danger of a boil order because of it. I highly recommend any locals that are out and about stop to implore these people to shut down so as to conserve water. Having worked in any number of restaurants I know exactly how much water they use.

I will end with a few pictures that just illustrate the strangeness of it all. I will continue to check in sporadically with more information.

Flood of '08: Another day, still risin'

Sorry about the lack of updates overnight. The river continues to ride here in CR. It’s slowing now, but for quite awhile was rising at the rate of 2 inches an hour. We are fast approaching 32 feet which is at or near crest. One of the two hospitals, both of which are 6 to 7 blocks from the so-called 500 year flood plane (that is the plane that it rose to back in 1993) is now taking on water and closed. Mercy will be closed indefinitely now. The other hospital, St. Lukes, is at the top of a hill only about three blocks away, but it looks like it will survive.

I am about 8 blocks from that location, again uphill, but I have to say it is not without some trepidation. Our basement remains dry however, and that is a good sign that we will be all right for the long run.

I did just take a look National Weather Service site of our flood information and the depressing part is how slow the water will lower. It will take a full week for the water to just drop to the levels it was on Thursday night. And that is not even counting the fact that several levees were broken as well. But the current prediction is a full week just to lower down in to Major stage. That’s a week before most of the flooded areas can even be reentered.

I will continue to update as I can. My internet connection seems all right still and as long as I have it, I will keep posting. While 14,000 houses are without power in this county, I count myself lucky that we are still in such great shape.