S.O.S.

We're starting to drown out here in the Midwest.

Steamboat Days in Burlington ended Thursday night as floodwaters began seeping into the parking lot at Memorial Auditorium, and when I went home last night, Front Street was underwater and water was creeping up Main Street. Fort Madison is a mess, too, and the Keokuk-Hamilton bridge is closed.

It's predicted that river stages will surpass the records set in the flood of '93, and in some places it already has. Levees are breaking. Communities can hardly sandbag fast enough to keep up with the rising water.

Drivers are gawking at the damage, being careless on the roads, or they are getting out of their cars and standing in the way of emergency crews. Yesterday in the newsroom I heard a request for crowd control at the Burlington riverfront on the police scanner. In a town of 27,000, that isn't usually a problem. And as always you have people using flood water for swimming and boating, exposing themselves to dangerous debris and chemicals.

Homes and businesses are disappearing underwater; even many buildings at the University of Iowa in Iowa City are flooding. People are being forced to evacuate in parts of northeast Missouri and in several towns throughout The Hawk Eye's coverage area. Not everyone is leaving their homes so willingly, especially the elderly. Law enforcement have had to threaten to arrest some who don't want to leave.

I guarantee you that all of us are being affected in some way, shape or form, even if the flood waters don't reach our homes. Roads are closing, people are without running water and/or electricity, the postal service is at a loss, and I'm sure that's not all. I also heard yesterday that flooding here in the Midwest will jack up food prices. So even if you don't live anywhere near a flooded area, this can affect you too in a small way.

I want to ask everyone reading this to please pray and consider donating to the Red Cross or another relief organization, if you aren't doing so already. I can't believe this is the second major flood I've seen in my lifetime...and they (whoever "they" are) call this a "500-year flood." Ridiculous.