CNN reported yesterday that 83 out of 99 counties in Iowa have been declared disaster areas — the scale of the flooding is tough to grasp. Those flood waters are now spilling into the Mississippi and moving south. Another service opportunity for the MIY (missionaries in yellow), who are out filling sandbags in Quincy, Illinois. Our sympathy and support to all of those struggling against the waters.
Floods happen along the Mississippi. In the 1965 floods, High Schools in Iowa towns and cities along the rivers closed and sent their students to be sandbaggers down at the river front. In 1974, I was part of a group that went to Muscatine, Iowa to shore up an earthen dike that was threatening to break. In 1976, we sandbagged on the Davenport waterfront. Back then, mission presidents didn’t pull their elders and sister into an organized workforce to assist. The missionaries got scooped up with the Priests, Laurels, and single adults from the wards and got sent forth by the bishops. I think perhaps the more organized approach now is better because it allows mission presidents to sent 100-200 people to places that really need it and that can have a big impact on how well flood control efforts work.
Does anyone have an update on the status of Nauvoo? The restored homes are on very low land. I saw some pictures online that had the water very close.
Nauvoo seems to be under control.
http://deseretnews.com/article/1,5143,700236152,00.html
My sympathies to those who are in the path of the Mississippi at flood.