Weather

[clara]

We've had a terrible Sunday with lots of rain and above all heavy, really heavy storms. 2 tiles of the roof have proved that they can fly... One crashed into my small greenhouse on the terrace; the window is broken. The other one broke into pieces when it hit the terrace. A large steel sheet on the other side of the house at the dormer windows was torn off. My son could replace (from inside) one of the tiles which had been just below the ridge, but not the other at the gable - we have no ladder that is long enough and I did not want him to crawl on the roof because of the height (and the rain). So I spent the whole Monday trying to contact a roofer - in vain. On Tuesday I finally had good luck and reached a roofer in a nearby village; he came on Wednesday to replace the tile at the gable and sent today two helpers who re-attached the steel sheet. I have no clue how much rain has fallen into the hole near the gable and I hope NOT to see it one day in my bedroom...

Pure chaos in the garden, only heavy stuff is still where it should be. But I shall not do anything till the storms and the rain are over which will hopefully be next week.

In my daughter's garden 3 large cypresses of 7 to 8 meters have fallen down, one just a few centimeters in front of their wooden gazebo. Two others are bending down now and have probably to be removed, or perhaps cut and then pushed back if possible.

PS: The roofer told me that he had had 600 telephone calls, yes, 600! because of all the damage on roofs here - and he is only one of several roofers...

[GrowingCoastal]

That all sounds dreadful, Clara. Glad you got your roof fixed and I hope that will be your last big storm of the season.

[clara]

I hope so, too! But it could have been even worse: In a small village near Aachen about 75 km from here, the most western town in Germany where I've lived for many years, a tornado devastated almost the whole village. It looks there as if they had had several bomb explosions. Several houses are so badly damaged that actually nobody can live inside. So I still had good luck...

[GrowingCoastal]

Do storms of that severity with tornadoes happen often there?

[clara]

No, they are very unusual. On our TV an expert said today that a tornado in March is more than rare. Sometimes we get tornadoes, but only sometimes and then in autumn.

[bower]

Wow Clara, that is scary.

[greenthumbomaha]

Very concerned about my neighbors and co-workers in Valley, NE. A levy breached and roads to Omaha were cut off completely. The police scanner is reporting water is now at 4 feet in town. How frightening it must be in the cold and dark of night.


- Lisa

[greenthumbomaha]

The town and those nearby are a disaster: roads are impassable and residents are completely shut off from Omaha and Elkhorn only a few miles away. It was a long night monitoring the scanner and hearing about people being rescued. From Omaha, I can hear and see the helicopters flying in and out from the disaster area.



A few photos of the flooding:


Facebook - Valley Police Department
Evacuation detail from the scanner twitter @omaha_scanner


Not sure how I feel about the well water now, but it's not good!



I am still looking for Fremont photo resources, but people I know are checking in as safe.


Next down the river is PaulF in Brownville. Let us know you are getting ready to be safe, PaulF!


- Lisa

[bower]

Take care, Lisa!


I saw footage of Nebraska flooding on the news here last night, so I know it is serious!


Hope it is all over soon and a better season ahead.

[greenthumbomaha]

I thought I would update this tragic event...In addition to the unprecedented snowfall melting, a dike just outside of town failed.

FEMA has FINALLY arrived. No residential trailers or other aid, just a mobile van taking paperwork. The community has really organized with donations and mucking out homes. They need every bit of help.

Flooding to the north of Omahal is in the Fremont, Valley, Waterloo area which you may have seen on TV. Towns were suddenly cut off from Omaha for days. People couldn't get home from working in Omaha to their kids. This is the area where I have a recreational cabin and where I am employed part time, and many of my coworkers have lost everything.
There is also flooding to the South in Bellevue, where Offitt Air Force Base was partially flooded. Other smaller towns on the Iowa side are still under water. PaulF may be near flooding too.

The lake cabin that I have often written about miraculously stayed dry inside. However, the sea wall is below the current level of the lake. I added this and it was built above the highest level the lake has been plus several feet.. The rain just keeps on coming, so hoping for the best when all is said and done. I'm not crazy in love with gardening in the field with the water table so high due to potential contamination, so the small decorative raised bed out front might be placed into service for tomatoes or peppers.. pending well samples cleared. Today I took in a well water sample, which is being funded by a laboratory and a state agency. They will report results in 2 weeks.

My property is on the small raised area to the lower left below the giant new lake. The small brown strip is the road and homes that remained dry. Its amazing how well the flood maps were drawn.

- Lisa

Wow, I can’t believe FEMA took so long to show, and isn’t out in greater force. It’s obviously a disaster area; anyone watching the news can see that. Drinking water and wells are going to be a huge issue for months. Let’s hope they do better than PR.

[bower]

Oh my! That is a crazy amount of flooding and standing for so long. It's great that your cabin was spared, Lisa! Looks like you chose your site well.
I haven't seen Paul F around lately, hope he is okay...
How long do they expect before the water recedes?


We just had two days in the upper teens C (near 60 F and 65 F) and broke the record for high temperature April first. It was a treat to watch the snow retreating in a hurry, but our normal April is pretty cold so I expect it'll be up and down for awhile.

[GoDawgs]

Lisa, thanks for the "up close and personal" updates. We never hear about or see stuff like this on the national news. I have to go to the RFD tv channel to find out what's going on but it's usually just general news about it, not the dire effects on the actual people who are living through it.

This is an ongoing disaster, one that will take a very long time to recover from. And some poor people, businesses and farms never will. Glad you're high and basically dry!

[rxkeith]

it took FEMA several days to show up in our area last year after the fathers day flash flood that wreaked havoc on our area. here, you don't wait for the calvary to show
up. we are the calvary. relief efforts early on fell heavily on local communities. volunteer
fire departments, and first responders were out rescuing people, clearing culverts or blocking off roads that became impassable.
there were not many areas of standing water here. the damage occurred from torrents of water rushing from high areas to lower areas taking whatever was in its path along with it. roads buckled, houses were flooded with several feet of water and mud.
local efforts got us back on our feet. once the governor declared the area a disaster area, that allowed the national guard to come in with big equipment in force to help with
major projects that needed tackling. small communities can only do much with limited resources. we have some of the best people in the world here along with a sprinkling of
unique characters,

its not a bad idea to have an action plan in place in event a disaster strikes.
have an escape plan, and a bug out bag ready, and a safe place to go.
culverts, and drains need to be kept clear from obstruction to reduce flooding.

weather here has been warming slowly. day time highs above freezing with night time
lows below freezing are making for a good maple syrup year.
snow is melting slowly which is what we want. no major rain expected.
longer day time with sun helps brighten the day.
the plow isn't coming off the truck just yet. april is notorious for giving us a last major
dump of snow. last week of april one year, we had two feet of snow as a parting gift from old man winter.



keith

[AlittleSalt]

April 5 - I just finished mowing a half acre or so. It was the first time to mow this year. You might wonder why I'm posting this here on the weather thread?

Going back to last September through January, it was extremely wet - the kind of rain that fills the water tables and leaves the ground saturated for months. February through today has been so dry that it has the area in a slight drought situation. Where I mowed has clay soil that is still wet - so the grass and weeds grew fast. My brother who lives on another part of the same property has sandy loam - he doesn't need to mow yet.