A beautiful summer sky somewhere between Iowa City and Cedar Rapids (don't tell anyone, but I took this photo with my iPhone while driving!).
Queen Anne's lace.
Black-Eyed Susans basking in the sun.
Independence Day fireworks.
The Wapsipinicon Mill and dam in Independence, Iowa in a more normal year. I grew up just south of town.
The Mill on Saturday, July 24th 2010. The dam is nearly obscured by flood waters.
The dam at Fontana Park, north of Independence. The road is beginning to wash out and hopefully wont undermine the dam.
Summer is supposed to be carefree and relaxed. The last couple of summers have been anything but for many people here in Eastern Iowa. I was in Independence (where I grew up) over the weekend celebrating my sister Jamie's birthday. The day before, areas north of Independence in the Wapsipinicon and Maquoketa river basins had 10 inches of rain in one night. The flooding that's resulted is nearly as bad as what we had here in 2008. The dam at Lake Delhi, also in northeastern Iowa broke yesterday due to excessive pressure on the dam. 200 houses were destroyed and 1100 were damaged. It's especially cruel because many of these areas are the same ones that had damage 2 years ago and lots of people just finished rebuilding.
I know that there are normal fluctuations in rainfall and temperatures from year to year, but something is simply different with our weather than it used to be. What's happening here and in other places simply can not be explained by normal fluctuations. I hope our politicians and others who have the ear of the powers that be listen to climate scientists soon, before it's too late to get a handle on.
No comments:
Post a Comment