For those of you who don't live in Cowley County, Kansas, you would probably not know that our rivers are well above flood stage. For people like my husband who didn't grow up in an area of the US where flooding was much of an issue, the word "flood" probably seems a little scary.
Unfortunately we flood here. And it seems like it happens about every year somewhere between April and the end of October. And sometimes happens several times a year. Our last was last fall.
After last weekend's storms and torrential rains across Kansas, all the rain and river water has now collected in our little town because we are the last town in the state at the bottom of the Arkansas River. Actually Ark City lies between two Rivers, The Arkansas and the Walnut River. Flood stage is 17 feet I think and this morning at 3 am the Arkansas was at 25.1 feet, forecasted to crest at 30 feet, or so I was told. And of course it's still raining off and on here and around Kansas.
The City put in the flood gates after the horrible flood in 1998 and built up the dykes so I don't know if the gates have actually been closed since then. There has been discussion of doing that this time around which freaks me out a little. The thought of not being able to get home is crappy.
What's worse is that last night as I was driving Wyatt home from baseball practice as we crossed the River bridge west of Ark City, I got half way across the river and suddenly thought about what I would do if the bridge collapsed while I was on the bridge. OMG that's a horrible thought when your child is in the backseat! Always thinking on the bright side right? Why do I think of such things????
And then the song, "Proud Mary" started going through my head. So we started thinking of all the songs about Rivers and sang them. We sang, "Rollin on the River of Love", "Proud Mary", "Green River" and so on.
As I write I realize that for an instant I became my mother! If you know my Mom, you will understand. My sister will for sure. My Mom always sang about everything. Sometimes we thought it was fun or funny and sometimes we could not help but groan.
Some things are just genetic I guess.
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Oh my gosh Jill! That would have scared me too!
ReplyDeleteROFL! You have turned into mom. I hate to admit it but I sometimes, very rarely burst into song too. I remember I HATED that when she did that.
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