A Wash Out and Flood Conditions

Three inches of rain came down in a half hour

resulting in flooding like we have not seen in 

our area for many years.  Not only was the low water 

bridge under, it covered our county road and flooded

farm fields tearing down fences and stranding motorists.

Even in town water rescues were conducted in areas

that you would never expect. 

 Barricades have been erected just past the entrance to our county road 

after the bridge washed out so who knows how long the residents 

will have to travel extra miles to get to the other side.

My husband snapped a few shots while I was at work.

The frog pond on the wall is overflowing and a river 

traveled across the courtyard, flowing down the hill

towards the coop and taking all the rock under the 

coop deck with it.    This frog pond is severely cracked

and holds very little water so for it to overflow is 

amazing and devastating to the poor frogs.

What was more amazing is that it scoured all the large 

rocks that fill the road's three feet deep culvert.

Pushing the rock to the bottom of the ridge 

and creating a dam at the bottom.  We have to 

arrange for a backhoe to come out and correct it.

As you can see, these are no little rocks.

This is where it all ended up.  Again, this was 3ft deep.

I was concerned that all my routes were under water

but I was able to get home using the highway.  Many 

times the place I turn onto the highway is flooded

in smaller rains but I was lucky this time.  All the other

routes were not passable.  More rains were expected

on Thursday so I worked from home just to be safe.

There were two very large storms, one early and the 

other with winds up to 72 mph which collapsed a couple

of buildings near where I work in town.  It eventually crossed

over into Illinois where it continued to cause damage. 

Friday morning I called the highway patrol as I crossed 

the major intersection out here.  The storm had blown so 

hard that the Stop sign was facing the wrong direction 

so the road with the stop no longer had one

and the sign was now facing the 55 mph county letter highway

where locals would not anticipate a stop.  

It was a bad situation, especially with a detour in place

due to the washed out bridge.  They were calling
MODOT to come out and fix the signs.  I saw they were heavily

braced by the time I came home that evening.  

The weekend is nice but we expect more rains on 

Sunday and Monday but hopefully not severe weather.