To all our friends here on the REW Forum. The Midwest USA has recently been hit by a series of devastating thunder storms and tornados. As a result a number of states have experienced record flooding and serious tornado damage. The state of Iowa has been hit especially hard. Iowa is the state where both Mike and Tim from Iowa reside.
I've been in contact with Mike and all is well with him and his family. At this time Mike and his family are away on vacation and should be returning home soon. Tim posted on a thread five days ago but we haven't heard from him since that time.
In addition to Mike and Tim we have other forum members from the Midwestern USA. I hope and pray that all our fellow forum members are out of harms way and doing well.
The city I live in is along the banks of the Mississippi. But my city has a very big levee and I'm far on the north end of the city...3 or so miles from downtown.
The Cedar River and Iowa River have both flooded. Downtown Cedar Rapids is submerged due to the Cedar River flooding. 2 sections of Interstate 80 have been shut down due to flodding of both rivers. And Interstate 380 that runs north to Cedar Rapids out of Iowa City/Coralville has been shut down as well. There's a bridge that crosses the Iowa River and the water is almost up to the bridge itself! I have family in Cedar Rapids but they don't live near downtown. They actually live in the country outside of the city.
I know it's causing a lot of issues for people wo are travelling west on Interstate 80. A friend of mine who wanted to travel west to Des Moines yesterday had to take some detours that ended up taking over 4 hrs instead of 2 1/2 hrs. Rather than drive 170 miles west on I-80...he had to drive 70 miles north on Highway 61 (yes, THAT highway 61) then west 60 miles on Highway 20. Then 40 miles south on I-380 to Cedar Rapids and then west on Highwat 30 for about 50 miles, then south on I-35 to Des Moines about 25 miles or so.
