I've been through floods before. I grew up along the Mississippi River. Not, like, literally on the Mississippi, but the cities that I was raised in were both on the river. When I was little, my backyard flooded enough that, once the water receded, we had other people's belongings sitting by my playset.
I was 11 during The Flood of '93. I remember reading a lot that summer because it rained so much. Other than that, I lived far enough from the river that I wasn't personally effected, aside from our wet basement... but that was a regular thing for us, growing up. No biggie. Really, the big thing for me with The Flood of '93 was that I wrote a poem about it that ended up in our local newspaper. That was the first time I was published.
There were floods in our area after that that gained national attention. When I was in college, I took some time to volunteer to sandbag in one of my hometowns (I consider two places my hometown, because my dad lives in one city and my mom lives in another). I had been visiting my dad and was heading home to my mom's when I saw people sandbagging and thought I'd stop for a few hours to help. ABC's national news crew stopped me to interview, and I remember telling them that I had finals for school that week, but thought I'd pitch in and help for a bit. They tried to play up the part where I was choosing volunteering over studying... but all I could give 'em was that I was a nerd who had spent the last two weeks studying. The least I could do was spend a few hours to fill a couple of sandbags. I didn't end up on TV.
Now we're having the biggest flood I've ever seen with my own eyes. I now work in production for a television station in Cedar Rapids, so it's all I've heard about for the last three days. Before this started, when everyone in this area far from the mighty Mississippi was panicking about a little flood, I scoffed and thought, "Ha. A flood. Their basements will get a little wet. I've been through this several times. What's the big deal?"
Well, I found out what the big deal is. It was absolutely chilling when I had to drive on the Interstate, the only way that was open for people to drive through the city, and looked downtown to find water covering the buildings' first floors. I drove past a neighborhood on that same Interstate and their garages were covered. On Friday morning, I had to be at work at 4am, so, obviously, the sun wasn't up when I went in. Through the first half of the city, things appeared normal, except for the police who were guarding the closed exits. Then when I got downtown, it was pitch black, because there is no power. Below me was 30 feet of water that shouldn't be there. This is a bridge that was built over a street, not a river.
A delivery lady came into work to pick up boxes on Wednesday, the first day that everyone had been evacuated from downtown Cedar Rapids. She looked up at one of our televisions to see that we were showing live images of the downtown area and we happened to be showing her neighborhood. She had just evacuated the night before. Though the area has shelters available to people, she and her husband and their dogs went to a Motel 6 for shelter, and the place didn't even offer them any sort of discount. It was $80 a night, and who knows how many nights she is going to be out of her house? She only knew that she couldn't afford very many nights and that all of her friends had offered their space to other friends and family members. She didn't know where she was going to turn. She might have had to go to a shelter, but I know if I were in her shoes, that'd be the last place I'd want to go... and I only know of one that was accepting pets.
When I was at work on Friday, the anchors that I was working with reported that my city was starting to flood. I started to panic, because I didn't know how far it was from my apartment (I wanted to know that my dog was okay) and I didn't know how far it was from Kevin. Then they announced that the last road of many from Cedar Rapids back to my city was going to close in just a matter of hours. The traffic was bumper-to-bumper and moving at 5 mph. If I didn't leave then, I didn't have a way out. That's a truly scary feeling. Even though my kind manager offered her homes in case of an emergency, I wanted to be with my husband and dog, and I needed to be home for my medication. As a trapped feeling started to sink in, my manager sent me out the door, because she knew that I truly wouldn't get home if I didn't leave right then.
I crossed the bridge that they were closing down right as water was beginning to creep over it.
I am truly blessed that that is the most that this flood has effected me. Chilling images and nearly being trapped in Cedar Rapids, by a matter of an hour.
It scares me to see those houses drowning in the water, but I'm not the one who has to call those houses homes. It's frightening to see the train bridge that collapsed and wonder which bridge might collapse next, but I haven't been personally effected by that. It's terrible to see all of the businesses that are up to the first floor in water, but I'm not the one who is without a job right now or who has to return to work in a few weeks to clean up and replace thousands of dollars in damaged products.
I'm safe. My husband is safe. My doggie is safe. Witnessing the situation firsthand is scary.
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