Got the high-speed running again, and we’re all very happy here!

I can’t say the same for everyone in town. We continue to have flooding throughout the state, and water levels are rising around Des Moines. The local AAA baseball park is at the confluence of the Des Moines and Raccoon Rivers, and city crews are placing sandbags around the facility (it was washed out pretty badly in 1993). Bottom line is, we’re in the middle of it right now, and we don’t know how it’s going to come out. Officials are confident that levees and flood walls built after 1993 will help provide better protection through this event.

Story City, Mason City and other points around the state are already under water to some degree. Iowa City is likely to be flooded as well. My normal route to work in downtown Des Moines is along the Raccoon River, and the road I take was under water in 1993. It was okay this morning, but you could see the water level in the river was very high.

So far, 41 counties (including Polk, where Des Moines is) have been declared Disaster Areas in Iowa. All of the flooding models that have been presented so far don’t include consideration of any additional rain, which we expect to see by Thursday.

I have yet to get my vegetable garden in with the ground being so wet… I need to finish tilling in sand and peat moss. I’m about ready to give up hope on raising tomatoes this year.

One thing I’ll say is, high commendation to state, county and city officials in how well they’ve been organized and operated through the relief efforts. I don’t think we’ve had to ingratiate the Federal Government by asking them to come help us, which provides great evidence of the power of local governments to handle disasters effectively.

Let’s hope we can get dry quickly.

(Edit - Art: Added link)