Care for a Swim?

Well, Bruce is zonked out on the couch right now so I thought I'd take the time to update our friends who we have not yet talked to about the flooding. It's his birthday today, so I figure he deserves a little rest:)

I think many of you know of the flooding problems Iowa has been having these past few weeks. Below are some pictures of areas we commonly drive through. These are from the local newspaper's website (press-citizen.com).

We are currently staying in the duplex of some friends who are gone for the summer. Our house will most likely not be flooded, but on Tuesday, our road was becoming flooded and we decided to leave before we got stuck. On Thursday night we went back to get a few more things and Bruce had to walk through knee deep water for 10 minutes to get to our house. There were so many flooded parts of the road that it was hard to even find a way to get close enough to walk.

Bruce went to help with the sandbagging effort last night, but other than that we haven't been out much. They are asking everyone to stay inside unless it's absolutely necessary (no sightseeing), and especially to stay on your own side of the river, since there is only one bridge still open, connecting the two sides of the city. It's been kind of weird to look at pictures online and to know that we're only a few blocks away from some of these flooded areas! It seems so unreal to me.

To get to Cedar Rapids, normally a 20-30 minute drive, there's a three hour detour because the major Interstate (380) was closed between the cities. In fact, the Iowa City airport--a small airport with no commercial flights--is offering a charter service to Cedar Rapids for $95 a person each way for those who are in a hurry. From what we've been hearing, Cedar Rapids has reached its peak water level and we will reach ours on Monday (though this estimate has changed multiple times based on the rain, etc.). Three of the four water pumps in Cedar Rapids were comprimised, so they've been asked to use water only for drinking--no showers, washing clothing, flushing toilets, etc. So far, our water is still safe but Bruce and I have been anticipating and preparing for future water needs and power outages.



A neighborhood in Coralville where some of the families in our ward live.

Same area--one of the hardest hit areas.


The sand bagging effort. Bruce and I helped with a sand bag wall (not this one) this past weekend that is completely submerged right now. This is a wall to protect some university buildings.

This is one of the buildings at the university.

This is where Bruce was last night (I think) at the water treatment plant, filling sandbags and then he also helped with building the wall.

This is Riverside Dr. in Iowa City, the road I take to get to the hospital and when I'm heading to Coralville (a town right next to IC--so close, can hardly tell when you've crossed into the other city).

This is the intersection of Hwy 6 and Mormon Trek Blvd in Coralville. Bruce turns at this intersection every day on the bus when going from his parking lot to the hospital.