The Flood of 2008

[MiMi_of_4]

We drove down to the Mississippi River today (not quite fifteen miles south of us) to see how high it was ~ eek! It's not as high as it was during the Flood of 1993, but way over the banks!

Some silly woman was letting her kids wade in it and play on the playground equipment, and then some man and his son went down the slide ~ they asked us if we wanted to join them.......ewwwwwwwww, no thanks, since it's downriver from all the farms that flooded.

Can you imagine the amount of chemicals, fertilizers, trash, animal shit, and remains of dead farm animals swirling around in there? Not to mention the danger of being in a river that is well-known for it's treacherous undertow?

Here are the pictures I took ~


This road ends near the two big trees past the playground on the left

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y57/MiMiToby/IMG_1692.jpg


http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y57/MiMiToby/IMG_1689.jpg

The playground and campers on the other side of the road; you can see where the campground is when the river isn't flooded (all those posts in the river to the left of the campers) DH and I decided there was no way in hell we'd be camping that close to the edge of a flooding river!

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y57/MiMiToby/IMG_1691.jpg


The tree line (three medium trees in the center) stand close to the edge of the hill that leads down to the river

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y57/MiMiToby/IMG_1688.jpg

[MiMi_of_4]

On a normal day, that sign post is at the top of the 15 -20 concrete steps that lead down to the river bank ~

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y57/MiMiToby/floodof2008.jpg

I was standing right at the edge of the water (you can see a bit of grass in the lower left hand corner)

[bocarioja]

Wow. Incrediable pics. I just hope everyone stays safe,

As the daughter of a dad who works in the waste water/sewers and drinking water industry, I can whole heartedly tell you that letting your kids wade and play in flood water is not safe.

[MiMi_of_4]

We used to take our kids down the river all the time, but I NEVER, EVER let them even touch the water! The little boy who went down the slide went under the water ~ just thinking about what is in that river almost made me throw up!

[bocarioja]

....Feces, chemicals, dead animals, rotted garbage, sewage and other shit that taint been washed in years... dead things, port-o- potties, thousssssands of tampons...

I would rather lick the choad of an exotic animal than let my child play in that water.

[curiouslurker]

I couldn't even imagine what everybody is going through with all the flooding.

Amazing pictures.

[Rizzae2]

in 1993 we were all downstairs for a tornado watch. We wend up stairs and 2 hours later our basement flooded to the top of the stairs. Im terrified of storms now. The stuff we saw crawling out of our basement... crawdaddies, turtles, frogs... and there were peoples toilet paper in the split walls.. All kinds of stuff came in.

[Babyblue]

[QUOTE=bocarioja;450313I would rather lick the choad of an exotic animal than let my child play in that water.[/QUOTE]


that would be quite funny as a sig line :)

[Laurens_Mom]

Not to mention all the stuff that washed into the rivers from way up here (our water treatment plant is still down). The river that caused all the problems here eventually washes into the Mississippi. I would stay far away from that water. Yuck!

[Justicedog]

Couldn't that be said of any natual water? Where do whales poop? Yet we go in the ocean.

I remember as a kid wading through, canoeing in streets when they flooded - (and I have to add) - and I turned out fine.

[Babyblue]

natural water ways havent over flowed into sewage facilitys, draging all that muck out, also it is much more concentrated that way. animal poop in the ocean is dispersed in billions of gallons of water diluting and breaking it down to less harmfull substances.

[catkrazy99]

Wow! I have a good friend who was visiting family in Cedar Rapids and it is just devastating.

[bocarioja]

When the storm and waste water sewers back up, they have to spill somewhere. waste water treatment facilities can not handle the amount of water going through their pipes during a flood. It ends up going into the flood waters and/or waterways in mass quantities. Think about what hospitals and restaurants send through their sewer pipes... Not to mention what hazardous chemicals people store in their garages. Ick.