So I'm Supposed To Evacuate...

[Ash]

Many of you have heard of the massive floods that have ravaged the Midwest and it seems the city I live in (Cedar Rapids, Iowa) will not be spared.

I live about 3-4 blocks from the Cedar River.  It runs right next to the downtown area where I live and can be seen from my living room window.

Steadily over the past couple days, it has been rising...and rising...and rising....
It is projected to crest sometime on Friday.
The city has closed off the 3 main bridges that cross the river and connect downtown to the southwest side of town.

The City of Cedar Rapids has ordered mandatory evacuations for all people who live in certain parts of town and guess what?  I live right on the very edge of that zone.  

Check out this first picture below...(you'll want to click it to see it in full size)
I live in the tall (ugly maroon colored) dark building in the center of that pic.  Normally, the river is nowhere near the level seen here.  To make matters worse, more rain is forecasted for tonight (heavy thunderstorms) and the river is expected to go even higher.


Here's another pic.  Keep in mind that the top of the water is normally 20-30 feet below the bottom of this bridge...


(this pic was taken about 3 blocks from my building)


So the city has ordered everyone in my part of town to evacuate as a precaution.
They're not saying if the water will affect my building, but they want everyone out just to be on the safe side.
Problem is, I don't really have anywhere to go.
The only friends' houses I could go to aren't an option because they work 2nd and 3rd shift.

Besides...I live on the 4th floor.  The water isn't gonna come anywhere near my apartment.
And my car is parked on the 9th level of the parkade that's attached to my building...so it's safe.

So I guess I'm going to ignore the evacuation order and stay here at home.  The only thing I'm worried about is the local power company shutting off the power to the affected parts of downtown...which they've announced they might do on an as needed basis.  That means if the water gets close, there goes the power.
That would really suck.

They issued an online map that outlines the evacuation area and it should be ok because I'm on the very edge of the evacuation zone...just outside the line.  Everything in dark lavender blue are areas that are being evacuated. 
This is record flooding.  I've lived in this city my entire life and have never seen the river this high.  I'll be sure to keep you posted.

Check out the local news station video on this page:
http://www.kcrg.com/

What do you think?
Ever been affected by a flood?

[Raffine]

Oh, wow. That really sucks, Ash.

Good luck and be safe.

I was evacuated for Hurricane Andrew - I lived in (gulp!) Homestead, FL at the time.

I had been told by a friend several days before Andrew hit everyone needed to leave in half no time: his brother flew on one of those planes that fly into hurricanes. He called as soon as they got out of Andrew and told his brother to leave south Florida - NOW.

It was really surreal when the police cars were driving through the streets announcing "WARNING. HURRICANE ANDREW IS COMING. HOMESTEAD IS UNDER A MANDITORY EVACUATION. YOU MUST LEAVE YOUR HOMES IMMEDIATELY AND GO TO A SHELTER." Is was like being in a Japanese Monster Movie with the warning "GODZILLA IS APPROACHING THE CITY! TAKE COVER! AIEEEEE!" being broadcast throughout the city.

I went to Godknowswhere, FL (the plan was to go to Orlando, but the Interstate was so clogged we got off in the middle of now where and headed north, and wound up in a little town sheltered in the high school.

We returned the afternoon Andrew hit to . . . no town . . . no house . . . no job . . . no nutthin'!

The best thing that came out of it was I then moved down to The Keys for several years!     

[Mofo Rising]

What happens if the first floor of your building floods? You wouldn't be going anywhere anytime soon.

Here's hoping that it doesn't come to that.

[Rev. Powell]

Wow, tough luck.

I don't think I would stay in the building if I had any other conceivable option.

Won't the city provide mandatory evacuees with some type of free shelter?  I imagine this would suck, but it may be better than the alternative.

At least you won;t have to worry about property damage with your stuff on the fourth floor.

Good luck.  Keep us up to date.

[Sister Grace]

oh dear, i'm so sorry to hear about this. My mother went through a flood last year in wv and it was bad. they had to come and get her in a boat. We actually even 'lost' a vehicle. Thankfully we all live in Tn now where that and mudslides aren't a problem. I'd say you'd be welcomed here if you need a place to go, but i probably live way too far away for you to get to. I hope everything is ok. What sucks most about flooding, even if you live out of the danger zone, you risk going without power, water, and sewage. When we had the flood up in wv, my sister-in-law opted to stay in her apt which was way up on a hill. even though she didn't sustain any water damage, she wound up being trapped in her apt for three days without power, water, and cigarettes (a three day nicotine fit may have been the cause of her and my brother's divorce)  .... so think twice about staying there if you have anywhere to go, if not stock up on essentials...

[Patient7]

That sucks Ash, I hope everything works out for you.

"WARNING. HURRICANE ANDREW IS COMING.

That's what Andrew shouts right before a fight.

[Ash]

What happens if the first floor of your building floods? You wouldn't be going anywhere anytime soon.

Here's hoping that it doesn't come to that.

The water won't get that close.  And even if it does it'd only be ankle deep.  Probably less.

Speaking of the power...
So far they haven't shut off power to my building.  They did announce that they were shutting off power to quite a few downtown areas...most of them just 3-5 blocks from me.
If the water encroaches quite a bit further, say 4-5 more blocks,  they'll probably shut it down here, too.

The police have also enacted a curfew from 9pm to 5am.  The Iowa National Guard and the police are both patrolling the streets.
It's kinda weird looking out my living room window and seeing all this activity at almost 3:30 in the morning.
Normally the city is very quiet at night with little to no traffic or pedestrians.

And about that evacuation zone on that map...
Remember how I said that I was right on the edge of it?
The evacuation zone literally begins right across the street.  

[Mr_Vindictive]

Ash,

I was thinking about you man.  I was watching CNN Headline News at work yesterday and your town was on there quite a bit.  Hopefully everything will work out well for you and everyone in your town.  I know you'll certainly be in our thoughts.

From what I saw, your town is doing some heavy sandbagging of the river.  From what they showed it seemed to be working decently well but we all know from previous experience just how long sandbags will hold when it comes to floods.

Best of luck Ash!

[Trevor]

I hope all will go well, Ash: take care, you're in my thoughts. 

[Jack]

Get yourself a great big cooler in case they shut the power off.  Then you can put your food in there and get some ice from a convenience store.

I'm in SE Minnesota and it's been raining here for two weeks.  It's raining right now.  We've been really lucky though, every time a storm moves through the really bad part misses us.  Like yesterday, on the weather map there was this huge green blob coming right at us, but all we got was a few sprinkles. 

We had some really bad flooding last year, they called out the National Guard and there were Blackhawk helicopters going up and down the Mississippi.  We had soaking wet carpeting in the basement, which was a major pain in the a$$, but that was nothing compared to what some people got.  There was one little town at the bottom of a valley, and the normally very small river running through there grew into a raging torrent and basically wiped out the whole town.  A guy I play golf with had his apartment flooded and had to move in with his son for three months.  Mudslides everywhere, houses picked up and moved hundreds of yards while people were trapped on the roof, man, bad news. 

[trekgeezer]

Take care of yourself Ash.    I saw in the news that a tornado hit a Boy Scout Camp in Iowa and killed 4 kids.  We've had our share of nasty stuff  here in Arkansas too. Seems like the same few places got hit every time a storm system would come through.

[Patient7]

Ash, buy a rubber raft so if it does reach you and it gets too high you can get out of there, just a thought I just had.

[Menard]

I've never been in an evacuation myself, nor have I lived in an area that got flooded to that degree. The closest I have come is working security patrol in an evac zone. It is quite different seeing a place you are used to being inhabited with people and end up wading through their residences, with nobody there.

Although I would state that it would be a good idea to check for potential shelters at local churches and organizations, well, personally I would frankly ride it out like you are. Especially if there were any pets who could not be sheltered.

My concern is, being that it is June, if you stay can you keep the apartment cool enough for comfort if the power is shut down?

Also, provided you have a little spending money (I realize it's tough right now), get some batteries for those flashlights and some empty, and clean, containers to fill with water; or buy you a few gallons of distilled water as you probably don't want to drink what may be coming out of that tap.

If you are not allergic to peanuts, a big jar of peanut butter and a box of saltines will go a long way for very little.

Pardon me for being presumptuous as you have probably more than made plans.

[Ash]

They shut off the power at about 7:30 am this morning.  

You should see it...  Nearly half of the downtown area is completely flooded.
I fell asleeep and woke up around noon.  I saw all the water and decided to have a closer look.
It was so eerie walking through my building.  It's completely dark.  The elevators are shut off so you have to take the stairs and the stairways are pitch black.

I walked down to the first floor and had a look outside.  This is what I saw...
(Click thumbnail to see it full size)


The doors were heavily sandbagged and seemed to be doing a good job of keeping the water out.
It literally was a raging river right outside the door.

I managed to get my car out of the parkade.  The water level drops off considerably and I was able to drive my car out.

Now I am at a friend's house using their laptop and watching the news.
Power is still out at my building and I can't really go back until the water recedes.

It's surreal.  There are friggin' boats driving around downtown!
It's going to be a while until I can go back.

Here's some more pics...
Click each one to see them in full size.

View from the skywalk looking down my street towards the river.


View looking towards interstate 380.


I'll try to post more photos soon.  

[Raffine]

I grew up fairly close to the infamous Brown's Ferry nuclear plant
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Browns_Ferry_Nuclear_Power_Plant)
and so was used to seeing big blue NUCLEAR EMERGENCY EVACUATION ROUTE signs along most of the highways. Many time friends or relatives visiting from out of the area would absolutely freak out when they first spied one of these.