Monday, May 7, 2007

Mother Nature at her finest-that's no foolin'!

This past weekend we have had more than our share of rain here in Omaha. Starting last Friday through Sunday, we had over 6 inches of rain. Part of I-29 was closed down yesterday afternoon through this writing.

Sunday morning at around 4:00am, on my way to work, I ended up driving through some water, not realizing just how much it was until I was right in the middle of it! On the regular streets mind you! The deepest part of it was coming up over my headlights on my mini van as I drove. I was actually looking to see if it was seeping in under my passenger doors. That's how deep it got. In the darkness among dimly lit streets, I had no idea at all just how much water there was. Aside from a few cars and people standing around looking at the water, it didn't give me any clue just how bad it was. Not until I was driving into and out of it.

I have never in my life driven through that much water. It made the belt on the engine start to squeal. If I had driven in it any longer, I think my van might have stalled. One of my fellow ramp agents did have his car stall. He was late for work. His car sits lower than my van, though. It just didn't look as bad as it was. And had I known the conditions prior to arriving at the particular intersection and street that had the water, I would definitely have driven an alternate route.

The night before had caused so many problems with flights, that only 1 out of 4 of our over night airplanes was able to land in Omaha. The others all had to divert to either Denver, Kansas City or St. Louis. Subsequently, the next morning, they all had to come back in order for us to resume our scheduled flights. It turned out to be quite the morning on Sunday. Most of our morning flights were late leaving. Plus the fact that it was still raining. The only news that we've seen on a constant basis this weekend has been about all the flash flooding in different areas. Parts of Omaha, Council Bluffs and sections of the interstate, I-29, have had the flooding issues.

Today was the first afternoon we've had any sunshine since last Thursday. But the forecast calls for more rain this week. Hopefully it won't come down as fast as it did Friday, Saturday and Sunday. We need some drying time....anyone have some quarters? :)

1 comment:

Kevin Moberg said...

Last month marked the 10th anniversary of The Flood in the Grand Cities. *shudders at the memory*