Life along the Mississippi

[Axeman]

By now you have all probably heard of the flooding around Cedar Rapids & Iowa City Iowa from the Cedar & Iowa Rivers. What some of you may not know is that all that water emptys into the Mississippi River. Tster & I spent the weekend shooting photos of the flooding going on around our area. The flooding is much worse now and we are going to shoot more photos in just a few minutes. Here is a sample of "life in OUR world" right now.

This is a river boat museum that is permantly anchored on dry land in a river front park as it would normally look.


This is what it looked like this past Saturday (6/14/08)...


Again BEFORE...


And this Sunday (6/15/08)...


The BNSF maintenance terminal (Behind the riverboat)


The local U.S. Coast Guard Station now surrounded by water


US Hwy 61 North at Alexandria MO. Shot from an 8ft addition to the levee around Alexandria. That's all farm land on either side of the highway! Those are (were) gas stations in the far background.


The lock walls at Keokuk, IA which are nomally 20ft above the water line


Shot from the bluffs at Warsaw, IL looking across the Mississippi river to Alexandria, Missouri. The tree line in the middle of the water would normally be the Missouri shore. The water beyond that is covering farm land including peoples homes.


We will post more photos at another time but if you would like to see an airial view of the region use this link...
wgem.com/Streamer/stream.php?url=video/playlist.php?ID=25718

[abirdseyeview]

Thanks for sharing Axeman.

[Axeman]

We had four more Levees break in the past 24 four hours!
The one that broke at Meyer, IL is flooding 47 square miles!
The town of Gulfport, Illinois is completely wiped out and as good as gone.
Here's another link to some aerial video of the region from Fort Madison, Iowa to Hannibal, Missouri...
www.wgem.com/global/video/flash/popupplayer.asp?ClipID1=2599693&h1&h1=Aerial%20footage%20Fort%20Madison%20to%20Hannibal&vt1=v&at1=News&d1=1258500&LaunchPageAdTag=News&activePane=info&rnd=32738906

[Compost Pharmer]

Been watching the news and knew it was bad but not that bad. That is a bad part of the country to flood and destroy all the corn. All the food made with corn will sky rocket now. How close to your house are the floods?

Thanks for posting the pics.

[Christy]

wow thats bad , stay safe axeman n tster!

[Penny]

What a shame, praying for you all!!

[Deleted]

Nice pics Axe....thanks. I looked at alot of the pics on yahoo.......my god.......it's so bad, they said 1.5 billion of damage in Iowa alone.

[Axeman]

The Mississippi crested here today and is slowly falling.
A total of 33 leveys broke or topped out with thousands of acres of farmland including this years crops flooded.
Tster & I live high enough to avoid the direct flooding but the region is devostated.
Corn prices already hit an all time high and it isn't over yet.
Look for this flood to effect everyone in the U.S. in the way of higher prices.
Cavey, that 1.5 Billion won't even come close! Crop loss alone will top that and the water is still headed south.
One a good note, the people of the midwest will bounce back. They always do!

[jeanette]

i knew that the river was supposed to crest there today.
some areas got more heavy rain today.
we probally won't see the full effects of this for a year or so.

[Axeman]

The river has dropped nearly 2 ft as of today but that's hardly a drop in the bucket when it was 13ft ABOVE flood stage!
There is still MAJOR flooding going on through out the Mississippi Valley.
Crop loss in Iowa alone has been estimated at 2.5 billion dollars.
This does not include Missouri or Illinois nor does it include property damage.
We hope to shoot more photos tonight and will post them as time permits. I can tell ya'll, you have to see it to believe it.

[Tster]

When Axe told me of the Flood of '93 and where it got too, I couldn't believe it. But now I've had a chance to see it first hand. I couldn't get over the damage it has done and how many people have lost their homes and farms. Think of all the money these people will not have this year because of the flood. No ground workable, no money coming in. I don't know how they will make it, but Axe assures me they will, they have before and will again.