I started with the floods in northwest Iowa and southeast South Dakota, but then I learned their were problems in other parts of the US.
(If a caption has a hot link for "Dennis DeBruler," then that is a link to my notes about that flood. In other words, these notes are an index of notes that I have written about flood issues.)
In short, there was way too much rain in too little time. Several river level records set in 1993 have been broken.
This Jun 24, 2024, video provides a nice "big picture" overview of the flooding because they are concerned about how this year's agriculture production will be impacted. They say corn under water for just two days will die. And I'm sure that late June is too late to replant. And farmers are losing their product after they have spent on fertilizer as well as seed.
On Sun Jun 23, 2024, the Chicago Tribune had an article about flooding in parts of Iowa. The Tribune normally doesn't cover flooding outside of the Chicagoland area, so I knew that if they were talking about it, then it must be bad. One town they mentioned was Spencer, IA. I had learned from a Facebook comment that a levee broke in this town.
The other town that the Chicago Tribune discussed was Rock Valley, IA. "Sierens blared at 2 a.m. in rock Valley, Iowa, population 4,200, where people in hundreds of homes were told to get out as the Rock River could no longer take rain that has slammed the region." The area had 4 inches in an hour and a half.
I first learned that things were wet on the plains states with a post about a BNSF derailment.
And then I learned that BNSF+Dakota & Iowa Railroad lost a bridge over Big Sioux River at North Sioux City
The museum east of the bridge has also been flooded.
And the town west of the bridge, North Sioux, has been flooded. In fact, some of the homes have been washed away.
While studying the record high river in Sioux Falls, SD, I learned that I-29 was closed between Sioux City and Sioux Falls. And one could not use the side roads to get around the closure because they were in worse condition. The state police suggested that a viable detour was to go up US-75 to Le Mars and then use State Route 60 to Worthington where you can take I-90 back to I-29. [
ktiv] The fact that they have you use State Route 60 rather than US-75 indicates that quite a big area around Big Sioux River must have been under water. Later, I learned about what the
Rock River had done to Rock Valley.
And quite a few towns east of IA-60 besides Spencer were flooded. For example, Sibley. (These are UP tracks.)
Then I realized that State Route 60 must be built on a ridge between the watersheds of Big and Little Sioux river. This Google Maps display that I came across illustrates this.
I wondered if this is enough water to impact the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers when it finally flows further south. Or is this just a drop in the bucket for the big rivers? I have read that they are predicting that the Mississippi River will flood. At least excess water in
Duluth and
Gooseberry Falls flows to the Great Lakes instead of the Mississippi River. But the water that breached the Rapidan Dam is headed to the Mississippi River.
St. Peter, MN, downstream from the Rapidan Dam on the Minnesota River
Henderson, MN, is further downstream from the Rapidan Dam on the Minnesota River and it has broken its record river level.
Jun 30: I-29 is flooded north of Omaha.
Even the desert states are getting hit hard. US-70 in Ruidoso, NM, became a river after rain dumped on burn-scarred mountain sides. A comment explained that the wildfires leave ash on the ground that seals the surface and does not allow the rainwater to soak into the soil.
And parts of the country got hit last April.
In early April, Pittsburgh saw new record high river levels on the Ohio River.
April was also very wet in parts of Texas. Livingston Dam spilled about 120 kcfs, which broke the record set by Hurricane Harvey of 110 kcfs. That flow damaged the spillway so that it now has to be carefully watched during more heavy rains in late June. But no one will admit what the damage was.
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