The things you take for granted.

Today I blog with a heavy heart. I live in Mason City, Iowa and we have had the worst flood hit us since 1993. The devastation and destruction here in heart breaking.
It all started Saturday afternoon. My husband, son, brother and I ran out to Target to get stuff for supper when the tornado warnings went off. The Target staff wanted everyone to go into their coolers but from working at Kum and Go I know that it's not as safe as they would want everyone to think. So we took off running for the car and headed to my parents' house 12 miles away in the next town over. We watched the storm roll in and before long the news was announcing that a tornado touched down at the airport which is less than 2 miles away from my parents' house. We were very lucky that it lost it's momentum. We made it back home safety before the down poor started. Sunday we woke up to a day of rain. We have a park here, East Park, that in down in the center of hills so you have to drive down in. This park has a normally beautiful river that runs through it called the Winnebago River. East Park flooding is really no surprise to us locals because it happens almost every summer. This year we broke a record from 1933 for the worst flood. At it's highest crest the river was 18.74 feet. The devastation the rivers, lakes and streams flooding has caused here really makes you want to sit down and just cry. All of our restaurants are on mandatory shut down until further notice, we haven't had water here since Sunday and the amount of homes damaged or destroyed is mind blowing. We don't have water because our water plant flooded. Ironic huh? Once we knew the water was going to be shut off I ran to Target to get water. There were hordes of people doing the same thing making the isle look like a tornado had hit it. I did manage to get some water but I didn't take in to consideration that we would need water to flush the toilet, cook and brush our teeth. So yesterday we had to go out of state to get water.
My parents' house had 2.5 feet of water in the basement after the sewer backed up. The worst part is that they are on vacation and have no idea what they will come home to. Their brand new washer, water heater, furnace, tons of clothes, keepsakes and dryer are probably a loss. My best friend's lower level apartment flooded ruining all of her living room items. Not to mention all the local people who have lost their homes. We are supposed to receive more rain today, tomorrow and Thursday.
It is in times like this that I realize just how much I take for granted. I encourage you all to really take a minute today to realized how truly blessed we all are. When you drink the water out of the faucet take the time to appreciate that it's there. Our town has lost a lot of it's historical homes and our ability to feel safe in our homes. The pictures below show some of the flooding damage. If you have the ability to help please contact The Red Cross. We have a lot of people in North Iowa that have no clothes, no home and every little bit really does help!! If you aren't able to donate please donate your prayers for all of us.