Levees, we haz them.

Are you ready for this Pierre? Today is the big day, as of about two hours ago, water began flowing out of the dam at the higher 100,000 cfs. That will slowly increase over the next few days, leading the Missouri River to rise four feet by Tuesday.  The people in charge expect that the levees will hold, that all of the homes behind the levees will be ok.  Of course, there are homes outside of the levees that will not be ok, but I think the town did everything in it's power to help them too. (Wouldn't it make you cry to have your waterfront view replaced by that wall of dirt? Better than a wall of water, but still, so heartbreaking.)


The parks are almost all on the wrong side of the levees. See the island out there in the middle? There is a new swimming path on that island! (for the fish to use?)

The town of Pierre has come together in amazing ways. Everyone with hands has turned out to sandbag or to deliver food or to volunteer their truck or trailer to the cause.  People are offering their yards for tents and campers, are offering to keep your pets for you, to let you use their washing machine. Restaurants are donating food and selling food at cost to volunteers. Someone called Mike's store yesterday and bought $100 worth of gloves, and Knechts matched it. Everyone is in on it, young and old. I went sandbagging a few nights ago and worked alongside a couple carloads of high school students, a handful of 6 year olds, and a dozen National Guard soldiers, along with an assortment of folks of my generation and that of my parents.  Sandbagging continues around the clock. The businesses downtown all got together and built a berm all the way around the block   Just a quick look at this Facebook page that is helping coordinate efforts will show you how terrific everyone has been.

I am so proud to be from Pierre, SD. I may be new to town, but I am loving the way everyone pitched in.  Everyone we talk to from out of state talking about how amazing this town, Pierre and Ft Pierre, is. How they've never seen so much generosity and hard work. Today the water is coming.  My optimistic nature tells me that it's enough, that we've done enough and that the water will lap peacefully at the levees instead of the houses. Meanwhile, the people won't stop working. Bags are still being added. Berms are still growing. Downstream in Dakota Dunes people are still packing up and getting ready.

It promises to be a long summer of watching the water, of waiting to see it recede instead of rise.  Watching it instead of playing in it. Eventually though, the water will go down and life will return to normal. We'll all get used to living on the water again and we'll forget the threat it poses. I hope we don't forget the feeling of helping each other, of being there for the friend we don't know yet. I've said for months what a friendly town Pierre is, this experience just proves it.

(First two photos courtesy of SDPB, last two from this Facebook page)


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Revising our plans for a flooded Pierre summer!

Like a lot of people here in Pierre, SD, the flood has changed a lot of our plans for the summer. I know this doesn't in any way compare to losing your home or your business, no need to point that out, but it does change what we had planned for our summer. This is our first summer in Pierre and we were full of plans for boating on Lake Oahe and fishing on the weekends. We were expecting picnics at the band shell and camping at Farm Island (pictured above). I had big plans for taking the boys to the park on the waterfront during the day and walking around La Framboise Island with the dog. All of those things are on hold, for at least two months. 

Now I'm on the search for other things we can do in Pierre.  Harrison Park remains high and dry. We can play on the playground at the Pirate's school- and check out the playgrounds at the other schools. We can talk walks around Hilger's Gulch and skip rocks into the lake at the memorial by the Capitol building. We can still go to the library (if my children ever find their inside voices) and to Zestos.

My mother will be visiting for several weeks in June (can you believe she hasn't met the Princess yet? Sidenote: the Princess is 9 months old today!!). Mom is an elementary school teacher, so I'm planning to squeeze every creative idea out of her while she's here. Left to our own devices, my kids will be flying kites made of Wal-mart bags (hey, don't laugh too hard, they did it for over an hour!)

We'll make detective kits and look for mysteries and bug catching boxes. We have sidewalk chalk and bikes to (learn to) ride.  The boys excel at scavenger hunts and now that the Pirate can read it's even easier for me to make them lists.  The Pirate still finds educational things fun- learning to count money, and making up worksheets and tests for us to take.  I've promised to buy them a case of carbonated water and let them shake it up and spew it at each other once we have a hot day. Worst case I take them to the mall and plunk quarters into the "rides" that litter the place.

So there's still plenty to do here in Pierre. It's just not the same as we had planned. (And if you have any suggestions, I'm all ears!) I am optimistic that the Corp's plans will succeed and that by August we'll be out on the boat. That everyone's homes will be dried out and that Pierre will recover, with slightly different flood maps.



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There's a flood coming to Pierre, South Dakota.

You probably haven't heard, since it doesn't seem to be making the national news, but South Dakota is preparing for a flood. Heavy rain and snowfall this winter and spring in the mountains of Montana (they're flooding too, maybe you heard?) is sending record amounts of water down the Missouri River, through North Dakota and into South Dakota.  The capitol of SD, Pierre,  is right on the banks of the river. The Oahe Dam, just north of Pierre, is holding back all this extra water, for now. Eventually it'll continue downriver and flood areas of Nebraska, Iowa and Missouri.  I'm sure you've all seen these pictures of the flooding in Mississippi- people were building sandwalls around their homes in an effort to save them. We're doing that here in Pierre, South Dakota. We have until Thursday.

On Thursday, the US Army Corps of Engineers will be upping the amount of water released through the spillways to unprecedented amounts.  All of this extra water will flood into the towns of Pierre and Ft. Pierre.  It WILL happen, there is too much water to prevent it. They are holding off until Thursday while the SD National Guard, and every available body in Pierre, turns out to build a series of levees along the river in both towns. Every size, shape, model and vintage of dump truck is on the road hauling sand. The levees are expected to hold back water reaching a height of 1436. These numbers were determined on Saturday. Last night there were 5 more inches of snow in the Black Hills. Billings, Montana got more snow. It is raining. Once it floods the water is expected to stay in place well into July.

There are maps posted showing where the water will go when it gets here. There are a lot of houses that will be underwater. Like this one.  There are neighborhoods that won't get any assistance because of the short amount of time. Most people in those neighborhoods don't have flood insurance, since the flooding is exceeding the 100 year flood plain.  They are left to build their own sandwalls and to empty their homes of anything they might want to keep dry. It will flood all the riverside parks, playgrounds, the baseball fields, many of the walking paths, and all of the campgrounds.  Boats won't be able to get into or out of the water. Fishing is unlikely. Hopefully downtown Pierre will stay dry, but the homes between downtown and the river may not be so lucky.

Mike has sold out of every bit of flood preparation possible at his store, and then found more. He's made special trips to Rapid City to get more sump pumps and sewer plugs and miles of poly sheeting from the other stores (or had employees make special runs.)  His cell phone number is posted on the front door of the store for anyone who needs supplies off hours and he's stayed open hours past the official closing time, as well as gone in early to load more plywood and sheeting to other people.  So many of them sound so hopeless, even as they do their best to prepare. One man told him that if he hadn't put such a large downpayment down on the home he bought just three years ago, that he would walk away. He doesn't have flood insurance and he is expecting 6 feet of water in his home. Good thing he has all that equity, right?

It is both heartbreaking and heartwarming. It's a slow motion disaster, but people are really pulling together and helping each other out. Volunteers are filling sandbags by the tens of thousands.  People are spreading the word on Twitter with the hashtag #oaheflood, even if the national outlets aren't talking.   Roads are closed, people are asked to stay home if they can't help (like me, it's really hard to go fill sandbags with three small children!)  It is horrifying to watch, and at the same time you can't help but be a little optimistic that the sandbags and the levees will do their job and the town will be saved.  And be heartbroken for the people that didn't get a levee.

For us, we're on the north side of town, well out of any danger. However- one of the houses we looked at in December already has water at it's door. One of the houses we considered in March, the one we really thought we'd get, is in the floodplain.  It is only luck that we're not joining the hundreds of people who are leaving their homes for the summer.  It is amazing to me because if it snows hard I have friends from other states call or email to ask if we're ok, because it makes the news. Snow is nothing. We had feet and feet of snow and not one snow day. But not one person has asked if we're going to flood.  I don't think this is because they don't care, I think this is because it's not news. Yet. It will be.

(If you're here because you googled flood information, you can find a lot more specific info and levees and sandbagging and specific info about Pierre, Ft. Pierre, and the rest of the state of South Dakota at the Disaster Recovery page and the Capitol Journal homepage.)
I am an Amazon Associate. As such, any purchase you make at Amazon.com after following a link from this blog will earn me a (tiny) percentage back as income. Thanks. All content copyright Books. Lists. Life. at http://bookslistslife.blogspot.com. If you're reading this post anywhere other than there, you are reading stolen content.