Is Anyone Selling a Rowboat, Cheap?

An update from my post the other day when I showed you guys a little taste of what the flooding is like here in Des Moines. Here's another taste - the picture on the left is what the Simon Estes Amphitheater looked like a couple of days ago, and the picture on the right is what it looked like today.



But don't cry for us (Argentina). Cedar Rapids is looking lots worse at the moment:

Picture from the Cedar Rapids Gazette.

Reader Kat, hope you're doing OK.

P.S. - more pictures here

Here's a picture of the baseball field on the North side by Interstate 80/35: http://data.desmoinesregister.com/flooding/viewphoto.php?photoID=0825ba28-1aac-4edf-b18e-4026ed0a88f4

See the building with the silver roof poking out of the water? I drive by it on my way home every night. When I drove by it on Monday, it said:

NORTH
DES MOINES
GIRLS
SOFTBALL

That's what it says every day, in big painted letters on the side of the building. But on Wednesday, it said:

NORTH
DES MOINES
[water]

On Thursday, it said:

NORTH
[water]

And now you can't even see the words at all. I cannot believe this is happening in my town! It all seems so far away on the news, even in the floods of 1993 when I just lived 30 miles away from Des Moines. Now that I live here, it seems like every time I turn around there's water!

Fortunately, it's still not approaching my house. Knock on wood.
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check out the classifieds section of this site

http://www.row2k.com/

I found my last rowing single there

Hang in there Des Moines you will dry out some time

This years corn crop looks like shyte...

Whats next?
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thanks for your concern. i spent my birthday yesterday packing sand bags, passing out water bottles and helping friends empty their basements.

the old record for flood water was around 20ft. last i checked we're at 31ft. we're also down to 25% of the water usage we normally have. tap water is still drinkable, but showers, washing cloths, flushing toilets (gross, i know) are frowned on.

there is a curfew now because of some small looting.

our shelters are getting full. several thousand people were evacuated from their homes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLtD5japDtY
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I'm from CR (and still live here) and fortunately, I've avoided the really bad stuff.

The "500 year flood plain" that was referenced is supposed to reflect the area that would be expected to flood once every 500 years. Yesterday, the levels well exceed the "500 year flood plain". The news reporters were asking whether there was such a thing as the 1,000 year flood plain ... that was at the same time that their studio entered the mandatory evacuation zone (they received an exemption).

The last record set for the Cedar river here was in 1993 at 20 feet over the "flood level". That was a record that held for 60'ish years. Yesterday, we hit 33 feet! No one expected it. Of course, a bridge collapsed full of train cars, which dammed up the river causing it to rise more quickly than the "models" forecasted.

It's all really unbelievable and depressing. On the plus side, the community is coming out in the thousands to sandbag and do anything to help each other.
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My heart is out to all the residents of the city... floods suck. Something tells me though, that the folks in Iowa are a little more resilient and self-reliant than those of New Orleans. 2 years from now, we aren't going to see people in Iowa complaining about their "overly spartan" FEMA trailers or moaning about how Uncle Sugar hasn't yet rebuilt their city for them.

Best wishes Iowans and please do us all a favor and just shoot the looters.
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