FLOODS

[jamoni]

There are floods in the midwest, people. Now would be a good time to rack up some of those VAP hours by going out and filling sandbags, or manning shelters. I'm going to see what I can find to do to help this weekend.

[Re-Hearse]

Fenton & Valley Park, MO need sandbaggers from now (3/21) until 3am on 3/22, when the river is expected to crest.

meet at the following locations to be directed to locations of need:
Fenton - old Big Lots at 539 Gravois Road.

Valley Park - old Schnucks at Hwy 141 & Meramec Station Rd.

If you have questions about flood stage status in your area, you can call the following numbers: for Valley Park, 636-225-5171; for Fenton, 636-343-2080; and for St. Louis County, 314-615-5000.

[SweetTea]

I did 5 hours of sandbagging in valley park, it was really fulfilling and everybody is very nice. Everything is BYO, so make sure you bring work gloves and a shovel. You'll get fed (local restaurants are pretty grateful for your protecting them) and they have as much bottled water as you need. If you're able bodied, go out and help some people.

[GoSlash27]

Please, PLEASE don't strand yourselves on the wrong side of any rivers during your efforts. Make sure you have a way home.
I'm up to... lessee... 18 hours of sandbagging in Cedar Rapids and Fairfax. Eek!

http://2008flood.org/
^ Here's where to go to find out where you're needed.

Any of you from northern Missouri and SW Illinois who can get to Iowa City and points south please help them out. We can't get to them from here.

[Re-Hearse]

Some links and info below:

http://www.ksdk.com/news/local/story.as ... 69&catid=3

"The historic river town is about 75 miles north of St. Louis, where the Mississippi River is expected to reach levels that could put more than six feet of water in the downtown district.
The mayor of this town of about 500 citizens says they need help sandbagging and they need it now. In less than a week, the river is expected to crest at 38.3 feet of water -- nearly a foot more than the flood of 1993 in Clarksville."
"We have 140,000 sand bags that need to be filled as we speak." And the Mayor says another 140,000 are on the way.

http://www.kmox.com/pages/2379111.php?c ... Id=2224193
Volunteers are building an eight-foot sandbag wall in Clarksville, Missouri this weekend. City officials are asking for help in protecting the town from the rising Mississippi River waters. Bring shovels, gloves, and waterproof shoes to Clarksville City Hall at Highway 79 and Howard Street. Filling sandbags and helping with food distribution will be the primary tasks. The river's expected to crest at Clarksville on Thursday, near or slightly above the historic "Flood of 1993" level.


for info on other communities in danger, see:
http://khqa.com/news/news_story.aspx?id=147038

[GoSlash27]

Please, please go do this!
[b]Every able-bodied Zombie slayer in northern Missouri and southern Illinois needs to be travelling north 2 days ahead of the crest to help sandbag if at all possible.[/b]
Keithsburg and points south are the most likely targets for today.
Track the river levels [url=http://www.crh.noaa.gov/ahps2/index.php?wfo=dvn]here[/quote]
And keep your head on a swivel with the road closings.

[gabegarwick]

Anybody south of Iowa on the Mississippi, watch out... The floods are coming your way.

Iowa Governor has declared 83 of 99 counties as State Disaster Areas.
78/99 counties under Presidential Disaster Proclamation
http://flood2008.iowa.gov/index.php?topic=disaster

We saw 500 year flood levels.
We're past the critical stages here in Des Moines, IA. We did have one levee fail last weekend and that neighborhood was evacuated (still flooded). University of Iowa (Hawkeyes) had over a dozen buildings on campus flooded (Iowa City, IA). Pretty much the whole town of Cedar Rapids was and still is under water...
36,000 homeless in the state (20,000+ in Cedar Rapids area)
Additional LEOs are being called in from neighboring states to supplement local resources in flood zones of Cedar Rapids... The list goes on...

News, photos, videos here:
http://www.iowaflood.com/

Near the end of may an F5 tornado ripped through small town Parkersberg, IA, killing 7, another 50 injured.



June 12, another tornado struck a Boy Scout camp in western Iowa killing 4, another 40 injured.

Vid:
http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/i_video ... d=4174888n

TV camera crew that drove right into the same tornado just after it passed the scout camp. (the tornado formed so rapidly it was not on radar)
http://www.kare11.com/news/news_article ... yid=514312

We've had a rough couple weeks up here I'd say.
Funny thing... we also saw "500 yr flood levels just 15 years ago". I think someone needs to rethink that.
We fared much better this time from all the work/improvements built after the 1993 flooding here.