Yesterday I had a shoot scheduled at the campgrounds near the river, and drove down to check out the site and see if there was any way to get to it. Of course I saw what I expected (the river is usually that part in the middle left...in the lower left you can see where it has gone over the banks and is just flowing into the campgrounds):
Fortunately the upper campsites were clear so we used one of those.
We drove out today to see how high the river was under the bridge. For reference, here is a portion of a photo I took last fall (I have closer ones from my film days, but they aren't available for me to post here, sorry!)...I cropped in *really* far so you can see what the bridge/river normally looks like:
Here is the river/bridge in its current state. It's probably about 15-20 feet deeper. The bridge is open for at least local traffic, but they are closing it again tomorrow and I personally am a little too freaked out to drive on it anyway!
You can see the water on the other side through the guard rails on the left.
The river, from the bridge (yes, people with cameras are crazy enough to walk out on bridges in the middle of highway traffic to take pictures)...the little speck circled in red is what remains of 3 pilings from an old bridge--they are kind of a landmark of sorts. yesterday you could still see the tops of all of them. (Sorry I don't have a zoom lens so this was the closest I could get)
We also headed out to the nearby community by the river to see how the sandbaggers were doing and if they needed anything. My husband and father were out there all day helping while my mom and I watched the kids. Most of these were taken with a P&S...even though the photographer in me wants to document everything, I would have felt like I was in the way going around with a big camera taking pictures while everyone was working, so I just got a few snapshots from where we parked and while we were driving. So, not the best pics but they do give you an idea of how bad it is!
The actual river normally flows behind those trees, under the bridge...which is further down the road.
This is my childrens' daycare (and home of their care provider). :( Very sad to see; man, I hope that thing holds! They do expect the water to reach the house at some point in the next few days.
The yard where my kids usually play with their friends...all the toys, swingsets, slides, sandboxes, trampoline, etc. have been moved to higher ground.
The yard of a home up the road from the daycare:
The local business my husband and dad were helping to save this morning...the yard off to the left is the daycare's.
The water is still rising and the river has not crested yet. There are many communities suffering with this flooding, so please remember to keep them in your prayers!
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