Water Water Everywhere

Near the beginning of this trip I mentioned running into signs of flooding when we reached northwestern Missouri and southwestern Iowa and said then the flooding would get its own blog later … well, here it is.

The Missouri Valley and particularly Mills county in southwestern Iowa were hard hit in the floods in the Midwest back in March and end of May. Even now in September there were still ponds in the fields and flood damage visible on the land and the roads. This standing water had been there since the spring floods.

Surrounded billboard through Geoff's window

In the second blog for this trip I mentioned splashing our way out of the Onawa KOA at Blue Lake and the tornadoes in Sioux Falls and stopping for lunch in Mitchell. That was on September 11th and we didn’t find out until later that night there was flooding in Mitchell and I-90 had been closed between Sioux Falls and Mitchell, the very road we had just traveled. The Onawa KOA had not itself flooded either earlier in the year or in September but the area closures had hit it hard. The Kennebec KOA on the other hand had flooded earlier in the year but although we had more rain, did not flood while we were there.

Flooded fields ... still flooded months later

The rain, flooding, and closures around the 12th were short lived but kept the rivers high and the ground soaked. The flooding in and around Houston, Texas, from Hurricane Harvey and Tropical Storm Imelda occupied the news and once we were out of the area, we heard little about the Iowa region.

I-29 closed north of Council Bluffs - online image

By September 20^th we were passing back through the area. Coming in on I-80, we cut across south of Omaha on Highway 2 reaching I-29 around Exit 10. Unknowingly we thus stayed away from the closures just north of us in Council Bluffs and northwards on I-29. The rain had continued in South Dakota, Nebraska, and Iowa, off and on through September which filled the creeks and rivers flowing south into the Missouri.

Highway 2 - trying to repair the damage

They were working on the road and bridges across the Missouri and surrounding lands even though it was a Saturday and when we got to the truck stops just before the interstate, parts of the truck stop were blocked off and closed due to the damage earlier in the year.

House surrounded by flood waters

We finally got on I-29 headed south. There we passed flooded fields, collapsed silos, closed exits, waterlines on buildings, and a lot of water where it should not be. 

Note the waterlines on the buildings, two waterlines on each, where none should be

Earlier this year we’d seen images from the flooding there but when you see these scenes on tv they are some how distanced, maybe because we see so many disaster images there. I know the news had showed us flood waters in and around buildings and closed roads disappearing into the water but when you drive along the highway and see a building with the waterlines on it … when you see houses surrounded by water … ponds in the middle of crops … when you see all this with your own eyes, in person, it makes an impression. I will never see it on tv again without feeling it as well!

More rain, where it is not needed!