Flood of 2008

As many know, Iowa experienced some terrible flooding in the past few weeks. While much of the water has gown down since then, there are the remains of the destruction the flood caused. Because I was gone for much of that time (Florida), I wasn't able to get a lot of pictures. But I did want to share a few of the old railroad bridge in downtown Waterloo.

Before I left for Florida and before the worst of the flooding, Ken and I went downtown Waterloo to look at the high water in the Cedar River. The water was at the very bottom of this railroad bridge. By the time I had arrived in Florida and called home to let Ken know I'd arrived, the bridge was gone. Here is a shot of the bridge as one drives across the 6th street bridge in downtown. At first all looks fine, but then...

You can see how the high rushing water pushed the bridge over and it is now sitting in the river. The picture doesn't do it justice really. It's much more impressive when Ken's driving over the bridge and I'm gawking out the passenger-side window.

To the left you can see the view looking directly across the bridge. Of course, the entrance to the bridge is completely barracaded. Overall, much of downtown Waterloo is fine now. There was some flooding in the area, and many of the downtown John Deere buildings had to be evacuated due to water, but I think things are mostly returning to normal now.

Things go on as normal here as well. I'm back to work after two weeks off. Ken and I had our garage sale a week ago Friday and made some good money (over $200). We're pleased and are ready to now look at what we can get in terms of a lawn mower with that. Hopefully something decent. We still have some items left (I did end up donating some items to a friend who works for a new parents' organization who could use certain items) and we'll probably have another sale sometime soon. I'm beat though and not in the mood to sit outside and do that again anytime in the near future. We do know now, however, that we have a good location for such sales. We threw up a couple of signs on nearby corners, but really didn't do any other advertising.

In other news, the new furnature we ordered on Memorial Day weekend was supposed to arrive last week, but didn't because of flooding and transportation problems. I've bet Ken that it doesn't arrive before the 4th of July. He thinks I'm wrong. I guess we'll wait and see.

Well, the week's just hitting her midpoint which means I still have to go to work 3 more days. I'm beat. I need a vacation. :-)