The Horseshoe

The headline could have passed for a classified.

Wanted: Ark.

Not exactly an empathetic assessment of a natural disaster, but perhaps it’s just the ironic attitude the citizens of Iowa City, Iowa must be feeling on the worst flood in fifteen years. At least that’s the impression I got from the Iowa City Press-Citizen. Either way, it’s all about a gut feeling.

A gut feeling is what I got after reading about the June 9 flooding in Michigan. Anyone with a gut feeling and knowledge about the Mississippi River knows that it all must come down. In other words, disaster that strikes up north will eventually flow to towns and cities below.

So far, the flooding doesn’t seem to be bursting the Mississippi. According to Quad-City Times in Davenport, Iowa, the flooding is “No Way” like what happened in 1993 (for the geographically impaired, Davenport nearly straddles the Illinois/Indiana border). But they are closest to the Mississippi, where the water doesn’t want to crest as high.

Travel 60 miles West, and the story changes. For towns abutting the Iowa River, the flooding now has a name. “The Floods of 2008.” That’s according to Iowa City, where the damage is expected to surpass the 1993 levels. That’s where I’m headed.

With a shovel, a pair of gloves, a sandwich, two gallons of potable drinking water, and a reporter’s notebook, I’m headed up north to see how many bags of sand I can fill before my toothpick arms give out.

Since this is an honest effort, I don’t know when the next post will come. It may come as soon as I can get some wifi access. Or it might come later Thursday night. The point is, bagging first, blogging second.

With that being said, I’m going to finalize some plans and catch some sleep before the trip. Stay tuned.

For bagging information, refer to the City of Iowa City Web Site, http://www.icgov.org/default/?id=1874