Postby Knoted4ever » Fri, Jan 11 2008, 08:22 PM
i'm glad that you guys are OK, Shawn! At work today, right before leaving to go home, i looked at a bunch of pictures that someone took of the Pontiac area during the flood. Very sad indeed; a lot of people will have irreparable damage, with mold, mildew, etc. Very sad!
We live right on the Iroquois River (which flows into and merges with the Kankakee River downstream). Unbelievable as to how high it (i.e., the Iroquois) is now. It finally crested this morning. For the Chebanse area north of us, the National Weather Service stated that 16 ft. is flood stage and that the river is to go to 20.5 ft. We are in a section of the Iroquois, however, that is much more narrow, though it is deeper... so the river rises a lot more here; i'd say 30 ft. or more. We are dry, fortunately; no water in the crawl space at all! Neighbors, however, down the road a ways, have water even in their living area... as it is lower in their spot, unfortunately. At one time, we did have flood insurance... but then were told by the bank that we did not need to have it... since we were not in a flood zone at all (our yard anyway); we were told that if we flooded, the whole of Watseka would be under water; we are very high up. Well Watseka is under water! Watseka was on the National News today (Headline News). It's going to be very tough for a lot of people... very unfortunate! Some homes across the river from us, and about 3/4's of a mile south, have water up to the middle or tops of their windows!
A friend of mine doesn't even live by any river or creek... and his sump pump is constantly pumping water out of his crawl space... so i guess we are pretty lucky.
Tom P.
Illinois_______ (excerpt from E. E. Cummings: "How many winds make wonderful... and is luck The skeleton of life")