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Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 823
Lunker
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OP
Lunker
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 823 |
Been gone for about 2 weeks fighting off rising flood waters, and failing miserably. 75,000 yards of sand to protect the town...7,000 tons of aglime trying to save the water plant and we still lost. Great big ol' levee right down the center of state hiway 92...about a mile long.  Levee let go about 6PM on 6/14... http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/gg58/hazmat07_2008/06-1428.jpgOuch...notice the water line at about 5 feet on our building... http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/gg58/hazmat07_2008/06-2103web.jpgTook out on 20 yd OT dumpster last night...maybe 2 more to go and then we see if she wants to rebuild..oh well.
In a lifetime, the average driver will honk 15,250 times. My wife figures I'm due to die any day now... 
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Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 20,043 Likes: 1
Hall of Fame  Lunker
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Hall of Fame Lunker
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 20,043 Likes: 1 |
Matt,
So sorry to hear this. It must be terrible. It's too bad all the water couldn't go into a reservoir or something. A city near me actually build a reservoir to catch floodwaters.
If pigs could fly bacon would be harder to come by and there would be a lot of damaged trees.
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Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 267
Lunker
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Lunker
Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 267 |
Matt...
Sorry about your loss. I hope your family made it through this.
Water dries, rocks crumble, and trees die. The only thing that is eternal is the reputation we leave behind.
- Ancient Viking Proverb
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Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 6,934 Likes: 2
Ambassador
Field Correspondent Lunker
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Ambassador
Field Correspondent Lunker
Joined: Oct 2005
Posts: 6,934 Likes: 2 |
Wow, I see that stuff on TV and cannot believe it. Then, I turn it off and it gets logged away as more horrible news. I head back to my life and my own problems.
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Then, someone closer to my heart grabs my arm and shows me just how that same disaster has personally affected them. It makes me feel weak and helpless. It also makes MY problems pale in comparison.
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Yes sir, it hurts...sucks.
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Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 8,854 Likes: 1
Moderator Ambassador Field Correspondent Lunker
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Moderator Ambassador Field Correspondent Lunker
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 8,854 Likes: 1 |
I'm so sorry to hear about all that, Matt. I am very interested to hear any commentary or see any pictures that you have available in the future. We're glad you're OK.
Holding a redear sunfish is like running with scissors.
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Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 823
Lunker
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OP
Lunker
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 823 |
Well...thanks guys. I just took a look at pics & video from Oakville, IA (about 20 miles downstream) and now I'm thankful for what little damage we received. We'll turn that building around for $5K or so (I can DO drywall, electrical, etc.) Others aren't so lucky...Oakville will probably disappear. Go to Ken Purdy's site to see what real loss is all about. Click on the links to his photos of Columbus Junction, where I live (he owns his own plane) as well as other areas. I can't bring myself to post the 350 pics I took...there's plenty out there. Man, that video of the hog farmers...that's tough. I know that couple and I worked in a confinement for 10 years. If you think farmers don't care about their livestock, think again. I know they wanted to cry...but farmers don't do that. BTW...John McCain came to town (I was there for that, too) and just slowed down the cleanup. The wedding was pretty cool...National Guardsman (they were a pretty neat bunch - made some friends) got tracked down by his fiance, and they were married in the middle of the highway.
In a lifetime, the average driver will honk 15,250 times. My wife figures I'm due to die any day now...
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Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 823
Lunker
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OP
Lunker
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 823 |
...so, about midnight last night a page goes out (wife's an EMT) that a train bridge collapsed into the Iowa River, and the engineer was in the water...thankfully, he's OK. Poor pic, I know, but this was driving by on my way to work this morning.  You can see video at Train derailment video A week ago last Saturday, we crawled across this bridge, underneath the railcars, with water to within 2 inches of the tops of the ties in order to pull a section of the 3500 feet of hose used to pump water from Tyson to the town of Columbus Junction...I played on this bridge for years as a kid, as we lived a quarter mile towards the right. Even after the flood's receded, damage continues.
In a lifetime, the average driver will honk 15,250 times. My wife figures I'm due to die any day now...
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Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 4,596 Likes: 36
Lunker
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Lunker
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 4,596 Likes: 36 |
Matt, have you seen the new IA footwear? Yes, the situation is very serious and tragic...but it's good to laugh in the midst of it all.  
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Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 2,505
Ambassador Field Correspondent Hall of Fame Lunker
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Ambassador Field Correspondent Hall of Fame Lunker
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 2,505 |
Matt,
We have friends over in Oakville and we spent a few days sandbagging over at the big ditch and some other places along the mississippi. Spent many hours in the water flopping sandbags along the levee as the water was rising fast!
Then spent thursday sandbagging down in Taylor, Missouri. Good friends down there too.
In both places, many friends are pretty much losing their whole farms and pretty much everything else they own. Its easy to sit back and watch on TV, but when you actually get out witness this kind of thing firsthand, you really can feel these people hurting pretty bad.
I am hurting pretty bad right now too, after throwing 1000's of sandbags for a couple days, I can barely type on the computer or sit in a chair I am so sore!!!
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