When it rains it pours (literally and figuratively)

This is really late, but I found that I had written all this up, and when my computer quit on my it automatically saved the post.. So this is from about a month ago....

Well, my blogging mainly happens on Sunday, so I try to squeeze everything in multiple posts. (hence the figurative rain)

Now for the literal... Many people have asked us about our situation with the flooding in Iowa. We, thankfully are fine and nearly all the roads we travel are unaffected (except for the road I take into work). As some background, and I don't have all the details, for the month of June, or at least to date, we should have received about 2-3 inches of rain, and we have probably had over 9 inches just for June. That in addition to storms upstream, and a very wet spring have largely contributed to the flooding. Des Moines is not nearly as bad as Cedar Rapids, a city east of here, where the whole downtown is underwater.

For those of you who want to know what the LDS church is doing, well, we were advised to do a number of things, not the least of which is wait...until the emergency and other workers have done their part. On the news they often caution people to avoid the areas due to the need to have the national guard and emergency workers on the scene. There are opportunities to help out in the relief effort, sandbagging and such. The LDS church has sent cleaning kits (in the form of white plastic buckets packed with cleaning supplies. I wasn't asked to help, but many in my ward did help to unload the hundreds of buckets, and get them distributed through the Red Cross. Also, we were advised that a semi with hygiene kits has been dispatched, and although I have been waiting for a call to help distribute those materials, I haven't heard more today. Really the clean up effort will be the big one.

So the rains, floods, combined with fatal F5+ tornadoes in Parkerbug, IA (north east of Des Moines), fatal tornadoes at an Iowan Scout Camp (no we are all well... I take the troop camping in two weeks, but we will surely review the emergency plan!), and a couple weeks of constant tornado watches and warnings, has made this spring an eventful one. Sitting up all night with the emergency weather radio chiming isn't a real restful one, and having to wake the kids and hunker down in the basement doesn't help either. But it is part of the Iowa Experience, and gives new appreciation for the power of nature, and our own helplessness and frailty in harnessing this power...