My town, largely underwater...

[The Valiant Turtle]

Hey everybody, we're having a blast here in Columbus, Indiana today. A rather large chunk of the town is mostly underwater.

I am obviously very lucky in that I am home with Power, Internet, and running water, but I actually spent most of last night at a Red Cross shelter, until that shelter flooded...

before...
http://www.valiant-turtle.com/images/schoolbefore.jpg

and after...
http://www.valiant-turtle.com/images/schoolafter.jpg

We went out to eat yesterday with our in-laws who came up from Cinci. After we got done eating we realized that every waterway in town was flooding higher than anyone remembers it ever being before, and that our house was on the other side of one of those waterways. We found out where the Red Cross Shelter was and headed there without any problems. They started us out down on the gym floor pictured in the first picture, but when water started coming in they moved us up to the balcony we took these pictures from (on my wifes cell phone). There was one really scary time when the water quite literally busted down the doors (ripped the metal frames out of the wall) on that lower level and started rushing in extremely fast. It never did get to the upper part of the balcony, but the running water in the bathrooms ceased to function, so they decided to move us At that point the water was almost up to the basketball nets. When they told us where they were moving us we realized it was only a few blocks from our house and they said we could probably go home if we choose too, so we did, at around 3:30am.

We are all doing just fine. My in-laws were up visiting (today is our anniversary) and since there is one road out of the city they are heading back to Cincinnati with our daughter, since we're pretty sure our day-care probably took several inches of water.

The major issue is that the basement of the hospital that my wife and I both work at was flooded, and it got almost knee deep on some sections of the first floor as well. Considering what all was in the basement, this is a huge issue. The lab was down there with dozens of horribly expensive specialized lab machines, the pharmacy with all its drugs and its nearly brand new automatic drug dispersal system, the kitchens, and the datacenter, with 100+ servers that are now totally underwater (cue joke about mass watercooling experiment...) The main storerooms are there, much of medical records, central processing, central scheduling, and several other departments. At this point the hospital is completely shut down. All patients were evacuated yesterday, but it's going to take a lot to recover from that. I wouldn't want to be the hospitals insurance company right now. I have heard from my supervisor and he said that the top priority now is making sure employees get paid this week. He said that they will give us a call when they need us to come in, and that could be anytime between this Tuesday and two weeks from now.

Okay, long story that was really just an excuse to post the neat before and after pictures my wife took is over now. I'll post a picture in the You thread someday soon with my spiffy new souvenir Red Cross Blanket.

We are in general just fine at this point, but there are plenty of people who have lost their houses, and there is one confirmed fatality at this point, so keep us in your prayers.

[Mauve Shirt]

Oh geez! Glad you're ok!

[CrazedGoblin]

glad everythings ok with you, must of been a weird experiance

[Zar Peter]

Well... some times it's good to be a sea turtle :smallbiggrin:

Sorry, had to be, wish you all the best, may the water be soon away and the damages lower than expected!

[Thiel]

Wow, that's a lot of water. Where did it come from? I mean Columbus isn't exactly close to any major body of water is it?

[Penguinsushi]

Yeah Raldor, i just talked to my parents - they said it's pretty bad. They're ok, being on the side of a hill and all, but they've been unable to go too far from their house.

@^ From what i understand, all the water has come from the local rivers, which have been swollen ever since the area from there northward got about 10" of rain in the span of only a few hours.

~PS

[SurlySeraph]

Eek. I hope there isn't too much permanent damage and things get back together quickly.

[Cristo Meyers]

@^ From what i understand, all the water has come from the local rivers, which have been swollen ever since the area from there northward got about 10" of rain in the span of only a few hours.


Yeah, most of the Midwest got hit pretty hard the past few weeks. It's pretty ugly this summer, moreso than usual.

[Bor the Barbarian Monk]

Raldor, I'm glad you and yours are okay. And I do feel quite bad about those who must suffer through such a disaster.

I was also horrified to hear about the hospital. Most are designed to be on higher ground; at least, that's what I've seen. So I'm a little stunned at the basement flooding. All that damage...

And yet, a somewhat humorous though has managed to lodge itself in my mind. You say the data center is now drowned and useless? FREE HOSPITAL STAYS FOR ALL PATIENTS! If you live near Raldor, NOW is the time to get hospitalized! They can't keep a record of how much you'll owe, so do it! Get sick! Be hospitalized! It'll be your cheapest medical treatment EVER!

Oh...Ummm...*ahem* My prayers are with those who need aid. And you, Raldor...Stay safe.

[de-trick]

thats why you build your castle on a mound of dirt, protection verse flooding, anyways thank god your ok, hope everything works out for you

[Mr. Moon]

... Wow. That's.. a lot of water. Now I want to go for a swim in that gym, and see what it's like to swim in the rain.

Glad you guys are okay. If need be, I hear roofs and trees are very comfortable this time of year. :smalltongue:

[Zakama]

... Wow. That's.. a lot of water. Now I want to go for a swim in that gym

That's exactly what I thought! I've always wanted to have a nice clean flood that doesn't hurt anyone or anything and go swimming everywhere.

Glad you're okay Raldor, I'm hoping and praying everything turns out well.

[The Extinguisher]

Damn, and I thought WE got a lot of water the other day.

Glad you're okay and all.

[Thes Hunter]

Ack! And here this morning, I had realized I had missed one of the things I wanted to say in my PM to you. Which was "I hope you aren't being affected by that flood down that ways."


I am sorry to hear that you were, but I am glad that you and your family are safe.

Having gone through Red Cross shelter training, I can tell you they don't talk about what to do when the shelter floods. It looks like they handled the situation the best they could, and I am glad the water never made it up the second floor and that you guys had a second floor to go to.


You and your town are in my thoughts and I hope everyone there is safe. It's hard to lose a home, but it's harder still to lose a loved one.

Let me know if there is anything I can do for you.

[Trog]

Gah! :smalleek:

Oh man... I'm glad to hear that you are doing okay. And the hospital... yikes. Not good. Hope your place managed to avoid getting flooded. You never really said if it did. But I hope not. :smallfrown:

The one time in recent memory it flooded here I was actually down in Indy and Cinci. Missed the whole thing. I hope things get relatively back to normal soon for you and yours. Thankfully you are a turtle and should weather such things with exceptional resilience. Hang in there duuuuuude.[/Crush from Finding Nemo]

[The Valiant Turtle]

My internet connection went out shortly after I posted this, but it's back now.

My house and property is completely fine, the water pressure is a bit low and I think we are under a boil water notice, but we have quite a few jugs and bottles of drinking water anyway, so we're fine.

We got a lot of rain very fast on top of already soaked ground. I have heard that the emergency spillway had to be released on a lake to the north and a few levees in the area broke. There is one small river that goes through town, which is still impassable. There are also several large creeks, which are mostly passable at this point, at least here. The town to the south of us is getting it now, I wouldn't be surprised if Louisville gets some minor flooding in a day or two.

The hospital isn't far from one of those large creeks, it overflowed into the hospital parking lot and I'm guessing it went right down the ramp to the loading dock and began to fill the basement.

Apparently the last really big flood around here was something like 1918 and this one is supposedly much worse.

My wife has had a really bad cough the past few days, so we're just relaxing, watching movies and playing games. My in-laws called to say that they made it safely back home to Cinci with our daughter, so we're really amazingly well all things considered.

[Death, your friend the Reaper]

Ah, so "Columbus" is the fancy new fan-dangled way of saying Atlantis is it? I sea. I'll add my well wishes to the flood of them already stated, extending them to those more affected. (see Death isn't such a big drip)

[Serpentine]

Why did they evacuate to somewhere floodable? :smallconfused:

Cool pictures, though :smalltongue:

[Lycan 01]

Woah, glad you're alright, dude. (Edit: Nvm, missed your last post... :smalltongue:)

[Vavaara]

First of all, I wish you and yours well and hope that you are doing okay. Now, on to silliness, for laughter is the best medicine!




And yet, a somewhat humorous though has managed to lodge itself in my mind. You say the data center is now drowned and useless? FREE HOSPITAL STAYS FOR ALL PATIENTS! If you live near Raldor, NOW is the time to get hospitalized! They can't keep a record of how much you'll owe, so do it! Get sick! Be hospitalized! It'll be your cheapest medical treatment EVER!


A good plan, until you consider the fact that the pharmacy is flooded. Care to have an operation with little/no anesthesia?

[Serpentine]

Hey, you get what you pay for...

[The Valiant Turtle]

We did get out to do some shopping today, and the areas that were not flooded or only minimally flooded are getting back to normal pretty quickly. Activity at Wal-Mart was pretty normal. Although we checked out at the Jewelry counter. It seems they aren't selling much jewelry today. Pressure washers do seem to be selling like hotcakes though.

One minor worry of ours is the status of the day-care we send our daughter too. We drove by it today and it looks like it must have had a few inches worth of flooding, this is not a surprise as it is quite close to the hospital. There was actually a cleaning truck there when we drove by though, so hopefully it will be open again by next week. We are also going to get a few inches of rain tonight, but it isn't expected to cause any problems. It might actually help to rinse some of the dirt away.

I'll actually be going into work tomorrow, although I may not be doing anything. I work the help desk, and with no computer network or even phone system available, I probably won't be doing much. I can certainly do anything else they ask. But they mainly want as much of the IS Support team available in case anything does come up that we can help with. The hospital has announced that they will be paying all employees for the next two weeks regardless of whether they are asked to come in or not. I think I'll have net access though, so you might see a lot of me here tomorrow.

The current estimate is that the hospital basement will be drained in 24-36 hours. They have brought a specialist in environmental hazards to evaluate any potential problems and a structural assessment is taking place.

As far as using locations that could flood as an evacuation area, the main floor of the school didn't actually flood. The gym floor was below ground level, the water came in via a loading ramp type entrance. They evacuated the school due to the lack of running water (well, water running in pipes anyway). From what we heard on the radio they only opened it because it was the only real option for people on this side of town, the main shelter was blocked off to the people on the east side of town. Still, this area is extremely flat, most of the elevation changes on the east side of the river are probably best measured in inches.

[Alarra]

Oh wow, yeah, I heard it was pretty bad out that way. It's been pretty awful all over the midwest. I'm glad to hear your house is alright and hope everything can get put back to rights soon. *hugs*

[Mountain_Faerie]

Wow. What an adventure. I'm glad you guys are okay. I hope Mrs. Raldor's cough goes away soon and that you stay healthy. Maybe leaving JC wasn't such a good idea... (starts plotting how to get the Raldor family to move back home) :smallbiggrin:

[ocato]

I live near that.

[skywalker]

And yet, a somewhat humorous though has managed to lodge itself in my mind. You say the data center is now drowned and useless? FREE HOSPITAL STAYS FOR ALL PATIENTS!
[/John Q]

I have +5 to making obscure movie references.

[Pocketa]

That may be the most depressing thing I've seen today.

[banjo1985]

Wow Raldor, those are some impressive pictures, I'm glad you and your family are fine.

Kind of puts good old British weather into persective doesn't it?!