Cedar Rapids / Iowa City

I was in Cedar Rapids and Iowa City today for work. It was a very humbling experience. For those of you out of state, you probably don't hear about it anymore, but its devastating. To try and describe it in its true sense for you to get an understanding of what its like is going to be hard, but I'll try.

To get into downtown C.R. you need to have a badge. If you don't have this badge you WILL get fined $100. So you have to make your way over to the mall on the very west side of town and fill out paper work. Once you get this badge you can head in.

The only way I can describe the downtown area is it's like a war zone. (not that I have been in one, but something you would see in the movies.) There are national guard and police officers at every corner standing guard, watching for looters. There are dumpsters in the middle of roads, trucks, debris, and sand bags all over the streets. Almost every street is a one way street now, because they only have room for one lane of cars to zig-zag down the street. I went into one building and every other step was missing going down into the basement and its pitch black and you have little flash lights to look where you are going. As you get to the outskirts of the downtown area you can find some residential areas. These streets are depressing. This is where you leave your emotions in the truck. You stop and talk to people and see if we can help. Most of them are just now getting back in and gutting the basement and the first levels of their homes. Others have left for good. Never planning on returning. See, these people didn't have flood insurance, because they weren't in the flood plain. They walked away knowing they have nothing to come back to. All is lost. They left to start over someplace else. I wish I had a camera to show you what its really like so that you would have a better understanding.

This is a picture taken about 3 weeks ago of downtown C.R. I stood at that corner today.

Iowa City still has water over some of their roads. They are building ponds out of tarps and sandbags and pumping water out of buildings and into these ponds, because they have no place else to pump the water. The damage in Iowa City hasn't been completely seen yet because of the water.

All I can say is that we all need to pray for these people and for these cities. They will rebuild over time and I am sure it will only be better than it was before, but these people need our prayers for strength, guidance, and love.

It's very humbling and makes you very thankful for what you do have.