Scenes from a flooded Iowa town

met

I live in Ames, IA and we've been seeing lots of rain and there are a couple rivers running through my town. These are pics from my flooded street and neighboring apartments. My apartment didn't get any water inside it (it's up a little bit on a hill), but my garage and storage unit area was flooded. We are currently without power and they aren't sure if it is fully crested yet or not. We're also expecting more rain tonight, so I'm crossing my fingers that it doesn't rise another 4-5' or I'll be in trouble.

The people that had to be boated out were landing right outside my door, so I also ended up being an unofficial taxi service of sorts to those that needed to get places. Some people had to wait it out because many areas of the town are still inaccessible to get through.



1. Here's an overview. My building is the one on the far right. My apartment is on the lower level - but still safe for now.


2. My neighbor's camper.


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Richard

Great set of pics. You showed both the physical and human impact. Well done.

Hope you get a break in the weather soon.

met

Thank you. The water main broke, so we are without viable drinking water and if you do have any water coming out of your tap it should be considered contaminated. We are under a boil order and flush and usage restriction. They are saying it will be around 6-7 days before we have water again. They have set up water distribution centers around town though. The interstate and main highways out of town are still all closed and blocked off. Ames is home of Iowa State University and the football stadium and main coliseum have several feet of water in them. Target and Wal-Mart are both flooded. They tried to evacuate customers and employees from Wal-Mart via boat, but the current was too strong. So they eventually brought a dump truck in and loaded people in to the back of that to get them out. I'm still without power. Should be a lovely week.

met

Here's an aerial tour of my town.

http://www.kcci.com/slideshow/weather/24597464/detail.html