Had a little scare yesterday. It was reported that a small boil (water seeping through the levee from river side to the dry side) had developed on Desoto. Don't know wether it was an old tube or an animal hole, but the group that is watching and maintaining it got it patched and it is holding for now. That will be the norm for the next 3 months.....trying to hold the levee system together by the efforts of many people in our community. Despite their heroic efforts I am concerned about the unprecedented flow and duration of flow. Also wave action from a very wide Missouri River will keep eroding at these dikes as time passes.
There has been breeches around Hamburg about 50 miles south of us. River levels are leveling out for now.

Jeremy with the Harrison County GIS office has posted a great .pdf with the areas in Harrison county that are flooded. You can find it here

It was decided yesterday to move Mom's household up to Brit's garage. We had lots of great help. Brit and I and Barb and Mom....along with Kim & Liza Bertelson...Nick Bertelson and Tory Watson...Lyle Ring, Matt Oloff and family & Bryce. Two loads and it was done. She will stay there for now, as we left a bed and chair and mini fridge, computer, TV etc

I-29 from Loveland to Mo Valley closes at 6pm, along with 680 from Loveland to Beebeetown.

This is looking south at the closed I29-I680 interchange. You are looking south and I29 is in the foreground....to the top of the picture is Epply Airport and to the right(west) is I680 to the Morman bridge....Location is here.

Family & Friends,

I guess it is about time I let some of you know what is going on here in western Iowa. Even though many of you have called or texted or e-mailed offering support and it is much appreciated.

It has been a hectic two weeks.

On June 6th, the realization hit the county that there were going to be unprecedented releases from Gavins Point dam in Yankton SD. According to the Corps of Engineers, there was 140% of normal snowpack this year and Montana had a years worth of rain in May that filled the system to nearly overflowing. According to RiverWatch the previous record release from Gavins Point was 70,000cfs (Cubic feet/second) in 1997 and by mid June they will ramp up to more then double that at 150,000cfs. This is to prevent an uncontrolled release over the spillways. This is an unprecedented flow since 1952, so no one really knows what will happen or how much will flood. The Corps has released “flood inundation” maps that “estimate” flood water levels from Fort Peck MT to Rulo NE.

In the past 2 weeks the Harrison County IMAT team (Incident Management Assistance Team) that I am part of has met 6 or 7 times and there have been town meetings in Little Sioux – Mondamin – Modale – and Missouri Valley. California Junction & Modale are expected to be hit the hardest and they are now virtual ghost towns. Most have packed up and moved out and moved their possessions to higher ground. Others are sandbagging and plastic and pushing berms around their property. Most of Missouri Valley up to 6th street has the possibility of getting water, so many businesses and people are bagging and/or moving. There has been much work in the county on levees and building others. The main problem with this whole situation…..is that the Corps expects to run the record releases possibly into August. So even if the levees hold for 2 weeks or 4 weeks….can we expect them to hold for 3 months.

Some personal info.

Mom (Carole) lives on the home place just a little north and east of California Junction IA. We have moved everything out of her basement to the main floor and garage. Brit has moved all of the grain out of the bins and his equipment to friends in the hills and put all of the shop tools and equipment up in the shop. Mom has a generator now that is hooked into her house, so if she loses electricity, she can run AC and fridge and sump and lights. She will stay there until the water comes and then take her coach into friends in town or to Brits.

Barb & I are 2 miles south of Mondamin and according to the county GIS person, our altitude is 1020-1022 ft. I am convinced that the water will be near our house, but not in it (except for the basement). We have bought a 7000kw generator also (I have wanted one for years) and had DC Electric (Thank you !!!) hook it into our main panel. With it we can run downstairs AC – fridge – freezer – and sump pump…..if we want water or washer/dryer we simply shut off the AC. ….And 55 gallons of gas. Everything in the basement is off the floor and up. My biggest fear is not being able to get to the house easily.

At my work, we have moved all of the equipment to a field east of Missouri Valley that we have rented, and the parts and office will stay here and open as long as we can get here and have electricity and phone and internet. Then we will relocate to another building.

There is much more I could write, but I will try to post this and more to my blog at www.liljedahl.us

Other sites that you might find of interest

Harrisoncountyia.org 2011 Flood Updates

West Harrison Flood Prep Group

Missouri Valley Flood Information

Harrison County EMA Facebook Page

Lee Valley Auctions Flood Pictures

I will post others as I can at www.liljedahl.us if time permits…

Everything looks great here now…..crops – lawn – flowers – trees – etc…. That is the sad part and I know that others have worse troubles than we do.

It could be a loooooong and busy summer.

Take Care….

Mike

[email protected]