A Word About Flooding

Second Post of the Day

You may have heard about the terrible flooding here in Indiana. It is true - parts of the state are a mess. Yesterday in West Lafayette, we had 4 inches of rain, and more is expected today.

The Wabash River is well over its banks although it is not yet over the highway where we lived.

Those trees line the river's banks and this spot in front of our home is the very first place it spills over the road. That happens when the flood waters are at about 20' (my mother kept the coolest flood record for decades and we soon learned when we'd be flooded in and couldn't go to school. Yeeha!!)

Our neighbor Shorty, whose home was about a quarter mile upriver from us, would then hop in his boat and bring us our mail every day until we could get out again. (His home, too, was razed and is now a site where kayakers can put in to the river.)

The Wabash is up, but the last measurement I saw was 14', so Lafayette and West Lafayette are still in good shape although the river is expected to crest at that critical 20' depth.

Sadly, the story is different elsewhere in Indiana.

This is Fall Creek (a creek!!) in Pendleton, Indiana. Normally the creek is 2 feet deep, here it was measured at 11.5  feet. (Flood pictures from The Indianapolis Star.)

The White River in Muncie, Indiana is almost up to the bottom of the bridges. (I've driven over this bridge; it is right by the place where Allison Pareis and I held The FAMulous Collectibility Show.) It was measured at a record 24.7 feet high. 

Lisa drove over the White River in Indianapolis yesterday and was gobsmacked at how close it came to the underside of the bridge she used to cross it. It's really scary to see water that close to you as you drive over it.

Lafayette and West Lafayette are well prepared having weathered many floods over time. Raised bridges spanning the river are in place and there's a levee so we usually aren't impacted too badly. 

A few people who live out of town like we did may get flooded in for a while but most homes along the river are up on the moraine and the homes remain dry.

Please don't worry about me and my community, but prayers, good thoughts, karma - whatever you are comfortable with is much needed for other parts of Indiana. Thank you.

And it just began raining again...

Dad's Slides: The Wabash River - Horse Heaven

I grew up living on the Wabash River. We had nine acres of riverfront and woods.

Our home was up on the moraine (which is why we never worried about flood damage to our home) with the front pasture below it. That pasture would flood when the river rose, but we had a paddock and two other pastures where we could put the horses when the river was running high.

This picture was taken from the hill above the bluff. You can see some more of the front pasture, the highway that cut through our property, and the river pasture along with the Wabash River behind it. A third pasture and our paddock and barn is behind the pines on the left.

Having the river to ride around and explore was just the best, and Leslie and I spent a lot of time with our horses on its banks.

 This was back in the days when I could hop up bareback and ride with just a halter and lead rope!

Our herd loved that river grass. We had to be careful the first few weeks of spring when we opened the river pasture up for grazing as we didn't want them to colic or founder.

 Amy was so beautiful. Like Abby, she had a lot of sass and personality, but she was gentle and willing, too.

Since the river's channel was on the far side from us, the shallows were along our pasture. Leslie and I loved to ride in the shallows. The horses would paw and drink, and once, on a very hot day, Cee laid down with me for a roll! (Luckily I was riding bareback and just stepped off him when he went down.)

I love that river and have ever since I was a little girl. It is a symbol of Indiana and has inspired authors and poets. Johnny Cash wrote If it wasn't for the Wabash River  and also sang Wabash Cannonball. There's  Back Home Again in Indiana with its signature line "When I dream about the moonlight on the Wabash," and the Indiana state song, On the Banks of the Wabash, Far Away  

I know what that river looks like in the moonlight. With horses drinking from it, or two girls cantering along its banks. The Wabash was a little slice of heaven to me then as a young girl, and it remains near and dear to my heart today.