This morning I woke to the news of the Ft. Madison and the Burlington bridges being closed. We are the only bridge in the county still open. During the night, crews (including Tom) worked on the bridge approach in Hamilton all night to maintain it. It opened this morning to 2 way traffic for the first time. A few levees have broke or been topped. That took a little pressure off of us but not for long. Click to check out the river levels at Keokuk. The river is right back up to where it was. The girls and I helped fill sandbags again yesterday to be used in Warsaw and the Warsaw bottoms. Warsaw is concerned about their water plant as well as some homes along the river. I just heard last night that this family’s efforts to keep the river out of their house failed and they had moved out.
There are many houses this close to the river in Warsaw. It is so heartbreaking to see people you know fighting for their homes like this. This is the very reason why we fill sandbags. Rental houses are at a premium right now as people scramble to find somewhere to live. I know of 2 families that are living in campers because they couldn’t find anywhere else to live. We will be filling more sandbags today in an effort to help. You may notice the absence of pictures the last couple of days. I have been honoring the requests of the local governments and not “sight seeing”. There will be plenty of time for pictures of the devestation and flooding later. Right now we are focused on saving what we can. I plead with you, if you are anywhere near an area that is fighting the flood, take a day off from work and go help. The manpower is just not there for many areas.
