Midwest flooding

[Moonshot_1]

Below is a link to the local news station in Sioux City. They are posting viewer photos of the flooding.

https://www.ktiv.com/2024/06/22/gallery-continued-flooding-siouxland-area-6222024/

I am in the city of Cherokee, Iowa. The Little Sioux River runs through it and is at record levels. I am well above the flood plain so no worries on my end.

The area actually affected is enormous. From the Sioux Falls, SD area all the way down to Sioux City, Iowa. Train bridge collapsed in Sioux City.

The flooding continues down every river valley to the east of the Sioux City area about 60 miles then to the north even into Minnesota.

The city of Spencer, Iowa, about 40 miles to the NNE of us here, a city of, I'm guessing 10,000+, had their extensive levee system breached and has flooded nearly every house and business there. No high ground anywhere in the city proper. Some of the photos are from Spencer.

The photos cover much of the affected area though they are not captioned. Easy to find more photos on the net.

Most of our town had taken advantage of various government programs in the past to move entire neighborhoods out of the flood plain. Still, the flood waters reached neighborhoods that no one ever thought it could reach. But still, we are better for the foresight to clear out the flood plain years ago.

 Our city proper is above the current level but it is getting close and all the waters up to our north (Spencer) is and will be inbound for days to come.

Almost all the area roads are closed. The river splits our town. So now to get from the south side to the north side is at least an hour and a half drive with pretty much the only one route open. And even that is a maybe.

Virtually all towns are either flooded to some degree or just cut off from everything.

In my nearly 50 years living in this area, I've never seen this kind of flooding.

The damage is staggering.

So if you are traveling and intended to pass through NW Iowa, SW Minn, SE South Dakota and even NE Nebraska, avoid the area if you can and if not, check the 511 road info before heading through this.

[GiG]

Thanks for the update, Mike - serious stuff, saw it on national news just before you posted, they had video of that bridge 

[Rams]

Have seen some news footage of this and also the failing dam in Minnesota.  

Never had a desire to live near or on a river.  Too many variables I can't control.   The fact that i swim like a rock only has a little to do with it.  

Rams

[cookiedough]

we sure have had our bad weather in the midwest for sure last 1 year.  My 150+ year old oak tree came down last year,  my 33 year old flowering crabapple tree came down 2 months ago,  and just 1 month ago my 7x7 shed blew apart demolished from high winds guess 80-100 mph for a brief time.  Let alone all these high winds and RAIN is enough already.  We just got 3 inches of rain in 1 hour and if did NOT have a sump pump in basement since live in low area where groundwater always HIGH,  I would have 1 foot of water in basement.  Sump pump was running NON stop for 3 hours when that heavy rain came down.  I have 2 spare sump pumps new just waiting on my 3rd sump pump in 30 years they do not last forever.

[h13man]

I'm on 3 rd. pump in 35 yrs. as our water table is extremely high (7ft.) but all fields in my vicinity are well drained due extensive drainage tile the past 20 yrs. Our area was nothing but a swamp at the turn of the 20th century thus resulting to some of best fertile soil in the Indiana corn belt.

[_Sheffjs_]

Wow, that is awful and difficult to digest the size of destruction you mention, and then you also think of businesses as well as homes! Like here in Sarasota we see the massive devastation from H-Ian that affected the area to our south. Still, all this time that has past and it is still not back to normal. Water is a powerful thing.

[Moonshot_1]

Waters have begun to recede. Roads are slowly being reopened. Hearing reports of bridge and road damage through out the area so though the water levels are going down dramatically, some roads and bridges remain closed due to the damage.  Still have significant water over a couple major roads in town.

Went to an appt. in Sioux City today. Lots of crops lost. Lots of crops lost everywhere in the larger Siouxland area.

Will be interesting to watch a couple of the hardest hit communities come back from this. Hope they do well.

[Jopson]

I’m 30 miles north of Sioux Falls. We got 10” in just over 3 days, but places further south got 16-18” in that time span! Luckily we didn’t get any flooding but you don’t have to travel too far to find devastation. Rock Valley Iowa has approximately 400 homes that are considered total losses and Spencer Iowa is something similar. There has been people evacuated but helecopter and boats from several towns. Huge swathes of farmland and crops washed away and underwater too. I-29 and I-90 have started buckling in several places, I’m assuming from the ground underneath the roadway behind too saturated to support the weight anymore.
8 weeks ago we were forecasting another year of severe drought!

[RP#62]

I’m 30 miles north of Sioux Falls. We got 10” in just over 3 days, but places further south got 16-18” in that time span! Luckily we didn’t get any flooding but you don’t have to travel too far to find devastation. Rock Valley Iowa has approximately 400 homes that are considered total losses and Spencer Iowa is something similar. There has been people evacuated but helecopter and boats from several towns. Huge swathes of farmland and crops washed away and underwater too. I-29 and I-90 have started buckling in several places, I’m assuming from the ground underneath the roadway behind too saturated to support the weight anymore.
8 weeks ago we were forecasting another year of severe drought!

Small world.  We were in Pipestone for 3 or 4 days the week before last.  Went through Egan on the way home.  Visited some friends in Ihlen and was hoping they didn't get too much rain.

-RP