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Hi Chuck. This is Heather
Houg...I talked to you for a bit at Think Tank this year and bought a
cool new pink suit from you. You may or may not remember me.
Anyways, I am emailing you to see if you can pass a word on to fellow
skiers that the city of Cedar Rapids (where I am from) has just been hit
by a serious flood. We as the Five Seasons Ski Team had a few members on
the team that were affected by this flood, and most likely they will
never have their houses back again. Or even see them again. I am asking
that people please keep these fellow skiers and members in your thoughts
and prayers. This has been a very rough time for our team and not only
our team, but many others affected by the floods. There is a lot of
clean up and work to do before things get back to normal again. Or as
close as they can be to normal I guess. Nothing will really be the same
anymore. I know our members affected have lost just about everything or
close to it. Our team was lucky to be able to have all of our equipment
in places where it was safe. Our bleachers will need a little repairing,
but with a flood like this we were very lucky.
But for those who have not been so lucky, I would just like for them to
be in people's thought and prayers during this difficult time.
This
is also not just for our fellow skiers, but for their families, friends,
communities, sponsors, and supporters all affected by these floods.
This goes out to all teams. Not just our team. I know there are fellow
skiers and teams in Iowa and other states that were affected by flooding
too, so if we could think and pray for everyone involved.
Just to give you an idea of the water levels, the flood stage is
normally 12 feet and the river ended up cresting at around 32 feet. It
has fallen well below that now, but now the aftermath is just as
bad...if not worse.
I have attached some pictures in case you are interested.
Pictures:
1.) This is May's Island (under water) -- it's a big island in the
middle of the river below the dam that is home to the Linn County Jail,
Court house and City Hall
2.) Another shot of May's Island during the flood
3.) One more pic of May's Island during the flood
4.) Finally, here is what it looked like before the flood
5.) This is looking towards downtown Cedar Rapids from the interstate
6.) An aerial shot of part of Cedar Rapids
7.) Picture of the fire department with their boat going up and down the
downtown streets patrolling and doing rescues
8.) Another shot of the FD boats
9.) Because of the height or the water and the current these houseboats
got swept out of the boat harbor and got caught up in this train bridge
just down stream from our show site. The railroad cars on the bridge
were providing ballast to the bridge to prevent it from breaking
10 and 11.) These are both inside our city's main fire station know as
Central Fire Station the station is a complete loss
12.) Here is a picture
inside our public library...if you look closely, you can see the water
line on the ends of the book shelves
13.) Here is a picture of the Five Seasons show site...this was taken a
few days before the water crested. Once the water levels actually came
to the maximum, the top of the bleachers were no longer visible
 .
14.) This pontoon managed to park itself right up into the playground
equipment...you can still see the walkway still tied to the right of it
15.) Another shot of our showsite under water
16.) Here are some house boats that got caught up stream...they are
probably sitting on the roadway right now (which obviously you cannot
see by the picture)
17.) Here is the swimming pool across the street from our show
site...completely under water
18.) Here is another shot of the pontoon caught in the playground
equipment across the street from the river
These pictures just give a small idea of what it is like here.
Thanks for taking the time to read this.
Heather Houg
Heather: Thanks for taking the time to send us
these pictures. I appreciate the time you took away from your
clean-up efforts to share this with us. I'm amazed and in awe of
the devastation. It looks similar to the New Orleans flood. Our
thoughts and prayers go out to everyone that is being affected by the
floods. Be safe, and take care of yourself, your family, and
friends....Chuck
If
you'd like to send Heather a note, her email address is
heather.houg@gmail.com
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