Minnesota Floods

Well, it's official....August 2007 has become the wettest August on record for our area. So far, this month the Rochester International Airport (our "official" weather data station) has recorded over 10-1/2 inches of rain....and there's still 13 days left in the month. Yesterday was the record breaker for amount of rain on that date: 5.16 inches.

Here's a picture of a little creek in a nearby farm field that has become a large flooded area. The water was running pretty fast. Fortunately no crops were planted in this field and there were no livestock or homes nearby that suffered damage.

Many areas farther south and east of us here in Minnesota were devastated by flooding overnight. Six people lost their lives due to the flooding--four of them in motor vehicles. Two were washed away in their car and drowned and two others died because the road they were traveling on had washed away and in the dark they were not able to see this and ended driving into the large crater where the road had been.

I'm glad I live on top of the hill. I have a fear of water and don't even like to walk in it--especially if I think it's going to go up past my ankles. I wouldn't even dream of driving on a road that had water running across it. "Turn Around - Don't Drown" is the motto the National Weather Service has been trying to drill into our heads this year. I saw pictures on the Nightly News this evening of major flooding going on in Oklahoma and some people who were stranded in their vehicle on a flooded road. It was a dangerous mission for rescuers in a helicopter, but they did get those folks out of there.

So, I guess I'm rambling here...this crazy weather's got my brain in a fog. And as a former Red Cross volunteer, please try to remember your local chapter with a donation if you can. The one thing I learned when I was on our Red Cross Board is that each chapter is also responsible for providing support to other disasters, in the U.S. and beyond (earthquake in Peru, Hurricane Dean, flooding in Oklahoma and Minnesota, and the cooling centers now open in the eastern U.S., to name a few). All of these efforts will require funds over and above what many local chapters have budgeted for. Please check with your local chapter for ways you can help.