new thread
Thought I would share some of what was happening in my town.
http://www.fdlreporter.com/apps/pbcs.dll/gallery?Avis=U0&Dato=20080613&Kategori=FON01&Lopenr=806130814&Ref=PH
Luckily I only had a foot of water in my basement I was one of the lucky ones as my house is on higher ground.
Sad to think the vast majority do not have flood insurance and traditional homeowners ins does not cover floods. The Fond du lac river is noemally about 100 feet wide and maybe 5 feet deep, but not today! It's a little bigger.
All last night my store was open although two of my night crew were flooded out of their homes (it's 24 hour store) so I was shutteling food to the red cross shelters half the night as about 500 people total were evacuated from there homes.
It's one thing to read about it and another to live it.
Kevin
WoW That really sux!!! How about FEMA? They helping?
I'm seeing visions of cheap trailers, miles and miles of them. Not much has been said so I'm not aware they are doing anything. I assume something will happen at some point.
Kevin
FEMA will be there several weeks after the locals and various charities sort everything out...
Sorry to hear about the flood.
Do they fix street lamps in Belgium!
Sorry, I just had to laugh!
Regarding street lamps, there are two right in front of my house (which sits in front of a six lane street and crossroad) that have been off for ages now. This is pretty bad since there are quite a few regular accidents here...
But yeh, lol :P
Yes that is so true thus we won't hold our breath in anticipation of those visa cards they hand out.....(grin)
Kevin
If only they could send that water here. Twice this week I have seen plumes of smoke from distant fires. There was not much rain this Spring, and so California is burning again!
Of course if I send you all the water then your hillsides collapse.
You just can't win out there.
Kevin
I'm sorry to hear about all the flooding. Flood is one of the worst disasters. If my house flooded I'd just bulldoze it and walk away. I have so much respect for people who live through a flood.
The extremely wide range of drought and flood is a characteristic of extreme unstable weather, a result of trapped heat due to greenhouse gasses. Unfortunately, the message has not gotten through partly because climatologists say things like "In 50 years the temp. of oceans will rise two degrees." The general public does not grasp what this means. The amount of energy in the system (the planet) needed to lift a mass such as the world's oceans, trillions of gallons of salt water, two degrees, is an off the scale amount of energy. That is bound to extremely destabilize the environment and we're starting to get a taste of that now.
If my house flooded I'd just bulldoze it and walk away
This is most effective when they do it to an entire town. Take a piece of relatively cheap, yet non-floodplain land. The city buys it, and relocates the *entire town* there. Ideally, you subdivide the new land just as the original town was, and issue new titles to the relocated.
This has actually happened a number of times. I don't think the relocations are such that they actually recreate the town block-by-block, but somehow they work it out. I'm not sure how much residents pay when this happens. They must pay something; but it's probably cheaper than losing your house every 20 years.
now that you mention it steve, i have heard of entire towns relocating up out of low areas, moving a few miles away from a river. I think that's happened in Missouri and Iowa and the old town becomes a ghost town.
Shawneetown, Ill., relocated up to New Shawneetown after the 1937 Ohio River flood. Not everyone went though. There is still stuff at Old Shawneetown, including Illinois's first bank building, which housed a bank which is reputed to have refused to make a loan to fund the establishment of Chicago, because "it was too far north of Shawneetown to ever amount to anything".
When I lived in the area in the 50s, 60s, and 70s, Old Shawneetown was known primarily for its bars and fried catfish. Much of that part of Illinois was dry, so the Saturday night passtime was going down to Old Shawneetown, getting drunk, and then killing yourself or someone else on the hard road coming home.
Bill
My mom told me about Shawneetown years ago but I couldn't remember the details, thanks Bill.
I'm remembering the name Valmeyer Illinois, they moved it onto a high bluff a few years back. It works great for small towns unfortunately Fond fu lac has about 45,000 people so a lot more to move. lol. Lucky for us this happens very rarely, and many houses will be demolished over the next year or two as the foundations are undermined in some cases.
Kevin
Hopefully the rains will stop soon and the sun will finally shine.
Stay safe Kevin.
Bruce
Sorry to hear about this Kevin. The flooding has had seriously devastating effects and I've heard the worst is yet to come. i just read about it now on the news before coming here and came across your post. I got scared for a moment and thought the worst. Luckily, you're ok and all you have is 1 foot of water in the basement. I read that the levees are in a very fragile state and that there is lots of rain heading that way, that is not good at all. Another concern is the damaged crops, especially the corn. This could have a negative impact on the economy.. Jeez..
Well, glad you're alright Kevin. I wish you nothing but the best and hope you and your relatives make it through . I'll keep you in my thoughts man.
Take care.
Hi Kevin,
I am so sorry to hear that you have been affected by this dreadful flood, which I have been reading about in the newspaper every day. Thank goodness that you are safe, and I hope that the water in your basement did not cause too much damage.
I will send along my thoughts and prayers to everyone affected by this flood in your part of the world.
Take care,
David
We were flooded out of our house (just for overnight) about 5 years ago ourselves. The Red Cross was a great help to us as well. I had no idea they were so well organized even in small-town Ontario - Canada. We always think of disasters happening far away and our little flood hardly would qualify as a disaster. I continue to be grateful to them for their aid and kindness.
Fortunately for us, there was little damage as we normally get some water in the cellar every spring and expect it so we only lost some old stuff that had been stored in boxes and not looked at for the last decade. We also were not covered by insurance since we live in a "flood fringe zone" but were well aware of that. Interestingly though we "would" have been covered if the flooding was due to sewer pipes backing up rather than a river coming in the cellar door.
AndrewB
Wow, Kevin. So sorry to hear this, but glad you have not been driven out of your house. Hope this is as bad as it gets. Stay safe,
Bob
I am sorry to hear this and I wasn't even aware that your region was flooding. Guess I need to turn on the TV sometimes. It has always been quite amazing to me how many folks refuse to purchase flood insurance even when they know their house lies in a flood zone according to the FEMA maps. I used to have to force-place flood insurance on peoples' home if they had a mortgage on their house at the bank and still wouldn't get the insurance on their own.
Well, here's to flood insurance!
I hope it doesn't get any worse for you guys and hope your basement dries out soon.
MB
Just terrible Kevin. What a strange weather year this seems to have been across the country. I have never known that the big floods in any state occur almost at the official date of the beginning of Summer.
And of your basement, what a pain. Happened to me once when I was in CT. with water up to my knees. Ruined everything.
Take care and I am glad that you are ok.
Justin~
and i quote "I think it's safe to say some people are just a bit worn out by the seemingly wndless doom and gloom" - Kevin C
...still waiting for someone to email me. nothing to hide here!
Mmm, yes; agreed, RAB. You know, Kevin, maybe you should post some pictures of your flooded basement. Just so we know you're a man of integrity, and that you're not looking for attention. We've had a lot of people crying wolf lately, so you know, just for good measure and all that.
Jumping on the band wagon eh and let's see a pic of your basement and shame I can't do the same as I live on the second floor. How about stop point the finger and see your basement of a pic of the violator!
Cheers,
John.B
ROLF....I was waiting for someone to post a comment like yours.
Indeed I figured I'd take my turn at doom and gloom as it's the lates trend here. Looking back at my posts over the year it's my first doom and gloom post as opposed to my 14th in a series.
In spite of my situation I do keep a positive attitude and maintain my sense of humour. I wasn't orignally going to post it but thought why not it's my first one.
Cheers
Kevin
Did someone say "pot"!!! Quester, roll up a big one of the Pacific Northwest's finest, and do pass it around. Round and round it can go, until every one of us has taken enough tokes to fully mellow out.
I'll bring the munchies!
Bill
Why bother lol..just post a pic of your basement or even a better a pic of yourself or are you hiding something...don't let the wife see!
My sister in Iowa awoke this morning to find her basement full of water. The flood had not reached her doorstep, but the water had syphoned into the basement, probably from someone whose basement did get flooded, and then via the city sewer system. This is a common occurrence in San Francisco for buildings along the waterfront. When the tide comes in unusually high, basements in those buildings will get bay water to come in via the drains. People can forget that water can flow in both directions in the sewer piping, not just out.
Sorry to hear you got water in your basement, and we all sure hope you don't get any more!
Bill
Hey Kevin,
Very glad to hear that you made it through with relatively little damage. Hopefully those who were less fortunate will be able to get back on their feet quickly.
Thanks for sharing.
Wish you the best,
Joshua
So why be so negative further down the page!
Just making a point. In a juvenile way? Perhaps. A point nonetheless.
All too often people are quick to judge others in certain situations, only to find themselves in the very same situation. At that point they either 1) realize they were wrong and wish they hadn't been, or 2) not realize they were wrong until someone comes along and tells them what a jerk they were (see 2 Samuel 12:1-7). In either case, I feel Kevin (not to mention several others, including yourself, John) was rather inconsiderate and rude to Bill S., and decided to be the "someone" in #2 above when Kevin found himself in a similar situation and decided to share with the board (which I should mention I have no problem with).
I didn't mean to be overbearingly negative; I just wanted to put things in perspective and hope that we could all be a little more considerate and "family-like" here on the forums.
Take care,
Joshua
Thanks for all the positive comments and even to those having a go at me. LOL My attitude is it's not the end of the world we'll get on with life. We ripped up carpet took two truckloads of stuff away luckily much stuff was up off the floor. Scrubbing with bleach and beginning to get things in order, perhaps I can photograph that process for those who requested it.....(grin)
The people in town are in good spirits as well and most important no one died.
Thanks again everybody and I regret I couldn't reply individually but time for posting is in short supply at the moment.
Kevin
It is good you are alright. Floods are really destructive. Hopefully the foot of water in your basement did not do too much damage.
Scott