River crests, begins to recede

Hey guys, the Cedar River crested! Yes! At 31.12 feet (awwww). To give you an idea, "flood stage" is at 12 feet. 10 blocks from the river was getting flooded (all along the river). 10,000 people evacuated out of 120-150 thousand. Most got help through family and friends, others had to go to a shelter. Some people stayed in their homes because of pets and had to be rescued. After that, they discovered that there WERE pet shelters (they obviously were either NOT tuning in, or had already lost power, or ignored the message earlier). Items as tall as a Dairy Queen sign were all but under water, regular street signs were 99% underwater, you could see just the tips of the signs and that was it.

Good news: people are turning out to help, businesses are offering their employees paid time off to either take care of their own needs, or to volunteer. Sandbaggers were desperately needed to save a pump for the water plant, they had 10 people, and 20 minutes after it was announced, over 1,000 showed up. They had to be redirected to other places. Needless to say, water is still flowing. We're being asked to only use water for necessary things. No laundry, no dishes, try not to flush, don't shower, etc.

We should be okay enough until we have to go back to work. I personally have issues because I'm running out of underthings, out of regular clothes ( I only have enough maternity clothes to get through 1 week) and I am not sure what to do. I could rinse them out I suppose, that's still using water, but I'll still need clothes before we take off for IL, and then NC next week. I may have to wear my hubby's clothes this weekend and wear my last 2 shirts on Monday and Tuesday at work, and then wear my hubby's clothes again on Wednesday for travelling. Regardless, we'll still have to wash the dishes before we leave or come back to a moldy house.

Also, all the roads are getting blocked. Our only choice right now is to go an hour north (out of our way), and an hour back south before getting to our road we normally would use. That will likely add an extra 2-2.5 hours to a 4 hour trip. Not to mention we have to get right back up on Thursday and travel appx 12 hours in a vehicle. And do the WHOLE thing again on Sunday. Not exactly "loving" that, but at least we DO have a way out.

Will keep you updated as to what's going on.