River Watch 2011: The Crest

We survived the river's crest!

Hopefully, we can put all of this flood behind us soon; although, the water is projected to remain at this high level until June. 

Here are the last flood photos I hope to post for a very long time. 

This is not safe. That water is moving incredibly fast, and it's nasty.

Another smart pair.

This is an eye-level shot of the road build up. The car is not driving on the build-up, as it appears. We're still down to one lane each way.

That's the bike stand that I stood in front of for my shots for so many days. 

We've had LOTS of helicopter activity. News, police, just people with helicopters seeing the sights.

We watched this one land on the other side of the roundabout! 

Proof that surveyors did their jobs and plotted our safety with the river's rise.

Another kayaker in the water!

And, I'll leave you with the view. It's a good day on the island.

River Watch 2011, The Trashy Side

Ever thrown something out of your car? 

Ever missed your shot into the park trash can and walked away? 

Ever had your trash bag tear on your way outside and not picked up the debris? 

We got it. 

 All the water that our area is receiving is congested with trash. The trash will be the aftermath of the flood.

And, for the people who live on the waterfront of our island and are bracing for water in their homes, they are actually facing trash inside their homes.

Is it worse that the water is 12-feet above flood stage, or is it worse that the trash is 12-feet above flood stage?

River Watch 2011, Island Life

Today brings another day in our Flood 2011. 

This photo is from the north end of the island. Can you see the light post in this photo?

There are a few light posts in this photo. This is actually a very large parking lot. If you look closely, you can see the light post in the center of the photo. Notice how far out it is. That's how big the parking lot is.

You should not see ANY water in this photo.

This is our bird house. It's the bird house that I have been using as my marker in all my previous post. I felt sad when we rode our bikes today and found it sideways.

This is a photo of where I've been standing to take all the photos in the previous posts. I've stood with my back to the bike rack and shot to the side of the metal hoops. 

Today, the city began building up part of the main road onto the island. We only have one way in and out of the island now, and part of that road is lower than the elevation that the river will crest at on Wednesday. So, they have been building up that section of the road to keep the river out. They've been working on the roads today, and cut the roundabout down to two lanes. Crazy traffic.

This is a photo of the sand/dirt elevation they are adding to the road.

This is the crazy traffic.

And, the dirt/sand. We're not sure if they will let us drive on this dirt elevation, or if they will continue to divert traffic to one lane each way.

This dirt elevation covers the right lane of the out-going lane.

Here's the thing: I love our island.

We're still safe, and I want to be sure we stay that way.

We are fine, and we appreciate all of your concern. We are so happy to see the Memphis Police Department patrolling the island, the city of Memphis building up our roads and our neighbors offering to help one another.

Life on the island isn't so bad. We're on guard and doing our due diligence to stay on top of all the information. A few of our neighbors have left for a few days and a few have had sand delivered to their yards to make sand bags, but we're okay. 

The view is nice.

River Watch 2011, no parking

So here's our latest report. These photos were taken on Wednesday. 

This photo is taken looking toward the place I've been taking all the other photos. Do you see the very small man? He's standing where I have been standing. 

This photo is in comparison 

to these two photo. Where that lady and other people are standing is under water. 

This photo is where I parked my car

 on Tuesday. This photo was taken when I was standing at my front door. So the perspective is different but the location is the same. The above photo shows where my car was, and this below photo shows the view from my car. Make sense?

This is the Wednesday photo from the same spot I've been using. Same bird house, same far-right marker tree on the right. Yeah, the water is much past the tree line. 

 These next photos are another look at where I parked on Tuesday, just to show the waves that are coming in. Those waves could end up being be more dangerous than the actual river level. 

Here's one of our beautiful trees, which you should be able to see the entire trunk...and another 35 feet to the left. 

Last weekend, Chris worked on our good flood Karma and helped make sandbags for the city. Here he is with his work people. He's in the light blue shirt. 

 We're still okay, but I do think "the flood of 2011" will become a story we annoy our children with. 

River Watch 2011, precautions

This is the level of the river on Sunday. 

Scroll down to the earlier post to see the original river levels. See how far the water has come past the furthest right tree?

People have been coming from all over to see the river. The traffic on the island has been crazy due to all of the "gawkers."

This is the last photo from Sunday from this spot. You can see where the water was already piling up in the middle of the lot.

I can't show you today's level because they have closed off the parking lot from which I took this photo. They've closed it off because the water is soon to flood the parking lot. 

They are now predicting a river crest of 48 feet. Previously they predicted 45 feet. This would still keep our house in the clear; however, parts of our island will be flooded. It may be that some of our roads are flooded. We're looking at the possibility of being stuck in the house for a few days. 

As of right now, our preference is to be stuck in our house on the island rather than leaving it. We hope we won't have to make this decision. We've had tons of wonderful friends offer their homes, and we may have to take someone up on their offer, but we hope not to. 

I made the run to Target and Whole Foods today to get flashlights, batteries and food. I also got a tiny collar for Porter and a custom tag. This sounds strange, but in the crazy chance that we have to leave the house (Porter has a carrier, which he will be in), but we also wanted him to have a collar. Isn't it weird the things you think of when you're faced with a slight emergency situation? Grace has a collar with her information, so she will be identifiable too. 

We hope that all of these precautions are not needed, but you don't ever want to look back and wish you had done something differently. 

So that's where we are. We're fine. We've made plans, and we're hoping that this flood doesn't impact us or anyone. We can deal with a few flooded roads and some inconvenience. We know people all over the mid-south have experienced terrible tragedies because of storms, and we plan to just hold the fort down on our little island!

That's the muddy truth!