Bottled water, please

Move to Des Moines and you will soon hear stories about the flood of 1993. Live here a few months and you will be surprised there isn’t more flooding given the high humidity. Wait a bit and someone will start talking about the mud flats on the Des Moines River that regularly added to the aroma of downtown in September before dams were installed. How does the summer of 2007 compare?

August brought many days and nights of rain across the northern half of Iowa. The ground was saturated and sewers overtaxed. Creeks and rivers rose and water did not drain from streets. People were evacuated from their homes and some municipal water supplies became unusable. Few of those rain
showers, or similar ones in the southern half of Iowa, crossed over Des Moines. The humidity in the city was high, though, and was at tropical levels for several days.

Flowers in the city continued to bloom and to attract butterflies, while mushrooms grew thick and strong among blades of grass. (The picture shows scenes from the western part of Des Moines on August 22.) The flood waters from northern Iowa were rushing through Des Moines on August 24 (pictured, left) and 25 (right), as seen from the Walnut and Locust Streets bridges. The roiling of the water and rocking of the waves is not captured very well, however. Unlike the spring, when high river levels continued until rain and warm temperatures melted snow, this autumn high should drop quickly.

While you stroll along the shores of the river downtown, notice the crickets as they jump across your path. In this picture they are gathered among flower beds edging the Simon Estes Amphitheater outside the Embassy Suites Hotel.

Guest Writer: M.R. Field is editor of Leading Voices: Iowa.