O. M. G. The. Heat.

My grandma's twin brother was in town this weekend with his wife, son, and son's girlfriend.  Ok, not in my town but in my hometown.  So of course I went home for the family barbecue.  The high today was 93.  With 77% humidity and a 110 heat index.  The drive home is about an hour.  I don't have air conditioning in my car.  Have I mentioned that before?

My brain is so fried right now that I have already forgotten what this post was about.  Oh yes, the heat.  The drive with no AC wasn't so bad because I got a breeze from having the windows down.  And even though the kids were in and out of my grandparents house that wasn't so bad either.  It was later when we went over to Iowa to fill up my gas tank.  Thanks Grandma and Grandpa.

Even though I was back last weekend for the 4th the only trip we made into town was to get fireworks (my roomies parents live south of town and in the country) so I hadn't seen the flooding yet.  When we crossed the Platte River I noticed that you could see the moisture in the air.  It wasn't foggy necessarily but there was definitely moisture in the air.  And yes, I live in Nebraska it is humid all the time but this was a new one for me.  The dew point was 82.  Crazy Business, I tell ya.

And the flooding, the water is actually starting to go down.  but it is still crazy.  Even though I knew they were there it was weird to see the sandbags along the highway.  And there were pumps everywhere to attempt to keep the water under control.

I feel like this post is all over the place and I didn't really update on the flooding. And I forgot my camera so I couldn't take any pictures.  Boo.  But yeah, it was really hot and EXTREMELY humid and my poor poor Max.  I had to give him a cold water bath when we got home because he was so hot.  Ok guys, random post over.  Sorry about all the ands in this last paragraph.  My brain is seriously mush right now.

On the Missouri River flooding

Up until a couple of weeks ago I lived in Plattsmouth.  Before I moved the river was high (I think already above flood level) but it hadn't yer crested the banks.  We definitely knew it was coming.

This is the river today.  The river flooded last year too.  I am almost positive it was not this bad but it was definitely close.  Actually I'm sure it wasn't this bad last year.  Because they didn't sandbag anything.  I do believe if the river hadn't flooded last summer as well it wouldn't be quite this bad this year.  But what do I know.

Here is what the river normally looks like.  When I went back on Sunday for Father's Day I did not stop on Main Street to see for myself what the river looks like.  I can tell you though that I sure am glad that I'm not living in Plattsmouth anymore, even though both of my parents houses aren't in danger of becoming flooded.  I am just happy I don't have to deal with that at all.  Of worrying if I'm going to be able to get to Bellevue or Omaha to go shopping.  Or to do pretty much anything.

My Aunt's house is in danger of flooding though.  I know she has packed up some of her stuff but not everything because she is still living there.  I believe the police/firemen told her that if the levee breaks (I'm not sure which one?)  her house will definitely flood.  Some of the farm fields that flooded last summer never lost all of the water they had gained.  So I imagine it is pretty bad.  For awhile the police were only letting people who lived back there to drive back there (they still might be again I'm not sure.)  And that was/is probably for the best.

Ed: I just read on Facebook that the city workers who work at the water treatment plant are working 24/7 to keep the plant safe.  And since the door is sandbagged shut they are climbing through a window to get in and out.  They are also taking a boat to the plant and back.  I think they have been taking the boat for a while, maybe a couple of weeks.  This new information comes from one of my friends moms.  His dad is a city water plant worker.


Also if you go here you can see a live view of East Main Street.  The camera is mounted on the court house facing East towards the river.  The picture above is just a screen capture I did earlier from the live feed.