Living on an Island in Iowa

Living on the Des Moines River in Southeast Iowa has a lot of aesthetic advantages. The sunsets over the river ,the soaring eagles and vultures, the passing canoeists and tubers along with countless songbirds and waterfowl make for an environment of contemplation and serenity. In normal times the trip to town over the road that runs along the river is a simple journey. Today it is a only a thought. The river has claimed the road for her own. As we watch the river slowly rise it has become apparent we are now on an island although the land behind us is of a higher elevation and we are not surrounded by water. You might call it because of the terrain , a virtual island.

We do have a boat that we could launch if escape via the water were necessary and we could get on the ATV and head up the hill and cross over to civilization via our neighbors property to the north. And then there is always the camper van in the barn that could be placed up the hill behind the house for a camping adventure. The options are there but the one at present is to ponder the circumstances and feel somewhat assured by the water level predictions and the knowledge of the past. We bought this property in 1993 the year of the "big " flood. That event defined the flood plain and we avoided being in the flood plain by a few feet. The knowledge is a comfort and has been since we owned the farm knowing that such a flood as 93 was unlikely to occur again in our lifetime. So much for a bad assumption.

We recently sold a mobile home we had used as a commercial cabin that used to set between us and the view of the river. That view is no longer blocked and as I sit here looking at the level of the river and the miscellaneous debris flowing toward the Mississippi, I think about how not seeing the river hid its progress toward devastation.

Flooding has many downsides but there is one discovery that we made that has provided us with fish bait for months to come. Where the river approaches and breaches the road, the nightcrawlers emerge in herds to avoid the saturated holes they were used to living in undisturbed. Never has it been so easy to fill a bucket of lively fat worms even in the bright light of day. Normally it requires a flashlight and a quick hand before the evasive slitherers escape in the handy hole they have peeked out of. This also eliminates the need to go to town to get bait.

Living on the high side of the river has also taken away the sounds of my neighbors. The dogs are gone and no longer bark and the roar of farm machinery has been silenced. In town the Strawberry Festival is in full swing in spite of flooded streets and we´ll just have to forego the free strawberries and ice cream that are the highlight of the Festival. The mulberries are in full fruit on the trees along the river so maybe a mulberry cobbler will have to suffice. My neighbor across the river farther down came over yesterday to share a beer and pick up some nightcrawlers we had told him about. And the UPS man drove through the inundated road to bring us our weather radio just in time to tune into the approach of another storm that left Ottumwa with three more inches of rain. Ottumwa is upstream from us about 60 miles so that was not news we wanted to hear. Still the water on the road seems to be rising very slowly and there are several feet of elevation before it even comes close to our house. The forecast is for fair weather for several days and the prognosis is good that we should dodge a bullet as we did in 93. But the weather in Iowa defies prediction and we can only relax completely when the river is about 6 feet below the bank level. Then we only need to be concerned about the tornadoes , drought, or snowstorms. There´s nothing like a sunny day.

We really don´t know when the road will be passable again but we do have a stock of groceries and the garden is starting to produce. There are fish in the freezer and the river and one could always stir up some poke salad if things got scarce. We should have new potatoes soon and a little asparagus has been periodically emerging. The red raspberries will be ripening soon and there´s plenty of green onions. If this water stays long enough and the raccoons don´t beat us to it there will be sweet corn which also can be a good fish bait. There are a lot of things that will get done now that I can´t escape to the golf course or eat out or take the camper van to the lake. The eaves got cleaned out yesterday, the mowing is caught up and now that I haven´t any other excuses I´ll probably get the facia painted on the south side of the garage, repair the gutters between the house and the garage, make headstones for the dogs we lost last year and put my old S-10 back together after taking it apart. I also need to check the camper van tire pressure which is a bear to do with the new hub caps I bought last year and there is always the project of cleaning the barn and the garage. But then again maybe the water will go down and the wonder of isolation and repose will have to wait. For when you are captive by the elements the excuse to postpone the things you know need doing drifts way like the waters of a raging river only a few yards from your porch. Ah the thoughts a wild river brings and takes away.

An article about floods and Iowa wouldn´t be complete without a few words about my home town of Cedar Rapids. The houses I lived in as a child are now all flooded. The streets that were thought to be impermeable to flooding are now awash and the bridge that I walked and fished from has collapsed into the Cedar River. Remembering the city as it was when I spent most of my life there is a memory that is no longer relevant. It was a safe place for my youth and a prosperous place for my adulthood. Now as a scene of disaster I think of the voices of the elders who spoke of the flood of 1929 and saw their pictures of rowing in the streets and standing by the landmarks underwater. That flood was the anomaly of the city. It was referred to as the greatest devastation that would ever occur in the city. Then came 1993 and that was the great flood. No more. The flood of 2008 will be the standard for what is hopefully a thousand years. To have missed this flood in Cedar Rapids gives me the feeling of being in the military in peacetime. Although the danger exists it is not imminent. To all my friends that are affected by the flood in Cedar Rapids I hope they are safe and will be able to recover quickly. For those of us who remember the city before the flood it will always be a haven that was impenetrable. Nothing that can be done will ever resurrect that illusion we clung to.