500-Year Flood

It's impossible to describe the disastrous scale of this flood. The people who live in this community are amazing--volunteers continue to show up and work, trying to save this town in any way possible. So many sandbagging efforts have already failed, and the waters continue to rise.

Our house is high and dry, far enough from the swollen river that we are not worried about our own home. Neither Ted nor I are able to go to work now, so we have been glued to reports on T.V., radio, and the Web all day long. It's surreal to be watching our own city on national reports of the disaster--but we are heeding city officials' admonitions to stay off the roads.

One of us will probably head out this evening to one of the volunteer sites to throw our backs into the effort... to save something, anything. The water is expected to rise five more feet before it crests on Tuesday, and we are already above the level of the "100-Year Flood" of 1993.

I'm feeling powerless and awed by this massive outpouring. Water, sweat, blood, and tears.