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The Great Flood of 2008 #3


Sigh...

As I posted earlier, we had 2" of heavy rain on top of record-high temperatures on Saturday. This melted all the snow (over 50" in December) and proceeded to flood areas that shouldn't flood, yet again. This is the THIRD 100 year flood in calendar year 2008, and I am quite sure I'm not the only one who is tired of it. 


Many people had flooded basements, again. People who don't live anywhere near rivers even had flooded basements--the water simply could not percolate through the semi-frozen ground fast enough. Fields were flooded, again. Fortunately, not much is actively growing at this time. Doesn't this look like a lake? It's a hayfield. 


To add insult to injury, a wind storm overnight Saturday left many without power, exacerbating the problem by preventing basement sump pumps (standard equipment in former-swampland western Michigan) from running. All this on top of extremely difficult economic circumstances, and we wonder, "How long?" and "What next?"

We are fine, personally, but we feel badly for those who have endured flooded basements, cold houses, and the final straw of no flood insurance. If you are the praying type, please pray for the people of Michigan. 


This is a photo of the ditch in front of our house. It was just cleaned out this summer. The bank (which The Farmer discussed not-so-happily with The Ditch Cleaner) is threatening to cave in. Which will necessitate more ditch-cleaning. If we're lucky. It seems as though the ditch is a snapshot of the economy in Michigan.

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Comments

  1. PamJanuary 6, 2009 at 11:54 PM

    I'm so sorry Lona. It was bad here too, but we didn't have quite as much snow as you had (I think it's 35 inches for the winter so far) so the flooding wasn't quite as bad. Those pictures are really quite amazing! I pray for our state and all those in it. Hard, hard times.

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  2. AnonymousJanuary 8, 2009 at 7:08 AM

    Oh my, Lake Shady Side! And now we have ice again, and topped with slippery snow. But I would much rather look at the snow than the mud.

    It was just WONDERFUL to see you at Shepherds Weekend and to get to visit a bit. Congratulations to Mike on his winning sock ;)

    ReplyDelete

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