The Great Flood of 2007
We have floods in the area this week. The water levels are expected to rise higher than they did in the great flood of 1993. The 93 flood seemed to last for weeks. It spread all across the midwestern U.S. and even the Mississippi river was outside it’s banks.
This flood of 2007 covers a much smaller region than 93 did so hopefully it will only stick around for a couple of days.
I drive a route that covers 114 miles in good weather. It’s about 4 miles wide and 30 miles long. Right down the center of the route is a river. Two rivers actually. There are many low lying areas along the way. Drainage from fields going to creeks going to the rivers.
Today was my day off but I was called in to assist. I took half the route, or about 66 miles worth of it. It took 7 hours and I traveled 125 miles to cover it.
Along the way I have seen many wheat fields looking more like Asian rice paddy’s than wheat fields. I have to assume that most of those crops will be lost.
It was certainly not as bad as the obvious devastation of the Greensburg and Macksville tornado’s over the weekend which destroyed many homes and businesses, not to mention schools, hospitals, churches and lives. Hidden under all that water it’s hard to see the devastation that will only be known when the water recedes and the farmers can get into their fields.
The total dollar damage to the state of Kansas in this one weekend of storms won’t be known for quite a while. It’s possible that this inconvenience for me at work could be one of the top 5 worst disasters in the states history.
Floods don’t seem to provide any instant gratification. They are slow to come, slow to go away, and only then are you able to see all that has been lost.
Kansans are a hearty bunch. Tomorrow, all 2 million of us will get up and go on with their lives. Some will have troubles coping no doubt, but as a people, Kansans carry on.