Thread: Flooding In Ames, Iowa

Well, I am homeless at the moment. I ended up being evacuated from my apartment building by boat yesterday. The water around my apartment building was somewhere between knee deep and chest high in places. Luckily, my apartment building is built on stilts, so my belongings should be fine.

I decided to leave because the electricity was out, I had no food that did not require the use of a stove, and the water has to be boiled to be used. The whole city is in a mess right now because a 2-foot wide water main broke under Squaw Creek, which is currently flooded. Currently, the city is under a boil order because of the water main break.

Luckily, I am a grad student and have access to my department's building for shelter. My parents will be picking me up tomorrow, so I don't have it so bad. Unfortunately, some people without electricity are going to be in trouble tomorrow as the temperatures are supposed to get in the low 90's. They will also probably not be able to boil their water. I wish them luck.

An article on the situation:
Rising water swamps Ames | desmoinesregister.com | The Des Moines Register

Aerial Photos:
Flooding aerials: Weds., Aug. 11 photos | Des Moines Register

Iowa State's Flood Website (Scroll Down to Video and Picture Links):
Flood updates | www.news.iastate.edu

I thought some people might be interested in what was going on in this neck of the US.

Yikes, that sucks.

A friend of mine lives in Ames, I will have to see if he is in the same boat.

Good luck man.

+1, that really does suck!

Hope your folks get through tomorrow and that none of your stuff gets damaged.

Good luck and keep us posted!

Originally Posted by altshaver

Well, I am homeless at the moment. I ended up being evacuated from my apartment building by boat yesterday. The water around my apartment building was somewhere between knee deep and chest high in places. Luckily, my apartment building is built on stilts, so my belongings should be fine.

Glad to hear your razors are okay! Actually, it's lucky for you that are are living in an apartment and so will suffer nothing but inconvenience. Others aren't so lucky. Iowa City, where I live has also had a lot of rain but no flooding this year. My worst damage has been the drowning of 70 tomato and 125 pepper plants. It hasn't been a good year for gardening, or farming, in some regions. Iowa has been hit pretty hard with tornadoes and floods in the past few years. It's not all idyllic corn fields and sunshine.

Anyway, I'm glad you're okay and glad to hear of another Iowa SRP member!

I've been following the news and was aware of this mess...just didn't know that you were directly affected

I am really glad you are OK though. Stuff can be replaced, lives cannot

Looks like ISU (assuming you are a student there) is closed because of limited Ames city water service.

Hang in there.

And the good news is, it's not the flood of '93 yet.

Actually, the Skunk River set the record, surpassing 1993's previous record.

Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service: Des Moines: South Skunk River near Ames Hwy 30

The Squaw Creek (which is the one giving me trouble at the moment) nearly surpassed the '93 record.

Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service: Des Moines: Squaw Creek at Ames Lincoln Way

All told, this is probably the worst flooding Ames has seen. 2008 was another horrible year. We had a horrible wet Winter, wet Spring, and wet Summer. The tipping point came in the last three days of heavy nightfall rain. Supposedly, we received up to 6 inches of rain in the last few thunderstorms.

Thanks for the thoughts everyone.

Like everyone has been saying at least your okay and with your apartment up off the ground your belongs should be fine unlike I'm sure many people in the area. You and tge people in tge area will be in our prayers and let us know how things are when you do get back. On a lighter note I'm in the lawn care business here in New jersey and we are going on our second 6-week period of no rain so we would be more than happy to take some of the precipitation off your hands just send it over via fedex or usps whichever is easiest.

Floods are catastrophic events. The level of destruction from water can take years to recover from. This will become more apparent when clean up begins. Once the National Guard let you back in, if the Salvation Army or Red Cross are passing out tetanus or typhoid shots, get them.
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Well, It looks like Ames is getting back on track again. Water quality was restored early last week, and many businesses are open again. However, there certainly are some areas still being cleaned up, and who knows what the final cost of that will be? Unfortunately, in my area, some people pretty much lost all of their possessions. I hope they can recuperate, but my area is a less affluent part of town. Luckily, nobody died in Ames as a result of the flooding.