The state of Iowa

My flight came over the western part of Iowa, the driest part of the state, into Des Moines. I could see displaced water from lakes and streams but, believe me, the whole state is not under water. Cedar Rapids and places along the Mississippi are total disaster areas. My grandmother lives in the old Burlington Hotel and she was evacuated on Sunday. Luckily they live on the 8th floor, so just as soon as they get the electricity and water running again, she'll be back home.

Initially they reported that the Mississippi River levels would not reach those of the flood of 1993, but they went even higher.

My friend Alison said she and her husband spent part of last Tuesday night in their basement the night that tornadoes came through western Iowa. I drove up Highway 71 from Carroll to Spencer, and shuttered when I passed the Little Sioux River, knowing that 4 Boy Scouts had died when a tornado ripped through their campsite. This happened about 30 miles down the Little Sioux River bed, closer to the border of Nebraska. But one could see the effects of a tornado just 2 miles south of Spencer, where another tornado plowed down a large structure (a shed, thank God, not a house) and once shady trees were reduced to stumps with a few jagged branches.

Have I ever been in a tornado? No. I've only seen them forming in the sky. If they were ever a threat, I was usually down in a basement. (I'm asked that all the time.)

Just wanted to give a report.