More Flood Info

From friend Phyllis Thompson in Atlantic IA:
SW IA got hit hard in places with winds, tornadoes, very heavy rain, etc although we were very fortunate here in Atlantic. A couple of our low lying areas flooded, but those aren't unusual. Some farming fields still have ponds and some replanting will need to be done. We did have 5 out of 6 straight nights of watches and warnings for severe thunder storms, tornadoes and flooding. All the updates, and constant weather broadcasts out of Omaha stations over rode the TV programs those evenings and nights. Mason City, in north east IA had the worst flooding ever in it's history, but daughter Deb and Kevin were lucky - not even water in the basement from ground water. They live in northeast Mason City. They are about a block from the river, but it didn't come up that far where they are. It was a couple of days before they could get out of their immediate area though. A lot of MC was at a standstill because the water overflowed the levy at the water treatment plant which pretty well shut down the City because so many places couldn't function without tap water - just think of the hospital, for instance. Emergency medical tankers came there, but only emergencies & in patients already there were treated. Inmates at the jail had to be taken to other counties, restaurants couldn't be open, day cares couldn't function, etc. Curfews were issued and enforced with heavy fines because of traffic congestion and looting, etc. You couldn't get into MC unless you could prove you lived there or had to be there. This flooding continues to play out as the water has progressed on south into areas that got plenty of rain also before the flooding rivers come to their towns and areas. 2008 has NOT been kind to Iowa this winter and spring!!