1993 was bad, but the floods of 2010 are breaking records

August 11, 2010

I have been in bed for three days with the worst migraine.  During those three days we got over 12 inches of rain.  Yes, a foot.  Our address is Colfax, but fortunately we don't live in town.  I took some photos today.  Here they are.

This was taken at the Kum N Go just outside of Colfax.  They have sandbagged the Redbox machine due to water that is expected to rise right up to the door of the convenience store and gas station.

Here you can see the sandbags in front of the door to Kum N Go.

If you aren't familiar with the area - this is the main highway that leads into the city of Colfax (Hwy 117).  If you look closely you can see the EXIT ONLY sign for the Kum N Go parking lot and a road closed sign.  Both are nearly underwater.  Across the road you can see a salvage yard that has cars completely surrounded by water.

I haven't heard any news yet as to how kids are getting to Colfax as the bus barn is completely surrounded by high water and impossible to get out of the parking lot.

What you are looking at here is the scene across the street from the Kum N Go.  Casey's General Store is completely inundated with water.  So much so that everything is reflected in it.

I was told that someone used this kayak to paddle to the Kum N Go so that they could get fresh water and supplies.  There is a boil order in Colfax due to the water treatment facility being under flood water.  The entire north-west part of town has been evacuated.

This photo was taken just to the south of Interstate 80, near a sand and gravel pit.  You can see that the water is rushing across the gravel road from overflowing ditches.

In this photo you can see more rushing water.  At the top of the photo is the on-ramp going east onto I-80.  There have been parts of the interstate that had water nearly covering the surface of the roadway both in Colfax and near the Baxter exit further east.

This is a head-on shot of the Casey's General Store.  You can see that there is clearly no way to get to the store or down either road (west or south).

This shot is of water that is nearing I-80 from the south.  The state patrol has been monitoring the area to ensure that if I-80 has water running over its surface that they will have to close it to traffic and re-route people around the water.  Normally that building is not in water.

This sign is on the on-ramp of I-80 headed westbound at the Colfax exit.  The exit did have water over it for a time last night.  In the background you can see a motel that is totally swamped out.  This motel is about 1/4 of a mile to a 1/2 mile from the South Skunk River which overflowed in Colfax and surrounding areas.

This is a little further down the on-ramp.  You can see where the water meets the pavement, but doesn't quite go over it.  It is anticipated by Friday that this area of I-80 will be closed to traffic.

While I was making a run to Walmart to get supplies, I drove by the Oswalt area which is west of Colfax along I-80.  It is a ghost town ... and now it is a very wet town.  The water you see here covers more than 2 miles of roadway.

As I got off of I-80 westbound to go south into Altoona, you can see that Iowa State Troopers were sent to the area to monitor road and flood conditions in case of evacuation orders.  I wonder if they knew I was taking a photo of them or not! lol

After reports of areal flooding, people went crazy at Walmart buying everything they could think of in case they get stranded.  I went through several departments where the shelves were bare.  Bags of ice, coolers, canned goods, rain gear, bread, flashlights ... they were all out of stock or had to be restocked.  This shows the line in only three lanes of checkouts.  There are over 20 checkout stations in the Altoona Walmart, and every one of them that had a checker behind the counter had to wait on at least 15 customers.  Add up those figures and you'll understand how complex it can be to get in and get out when there is a disaster.  This should be a warning to folks.  Plan ahead for things like flooding.  What if you couldn't get to Walmart?  What would you do?

More flood pictures will be posted tomorrow if the weather permits me to be out and about with a camera.

If you want to see more information, go to this link.  It is from KCCI channel 8 in Des Moines.  There is even an awesome video to watch that was taken in Colfax.