2011 Missouri River Flooding

This past Sunday, Kevin and I went up with a friend of ours who is a pilot and shot some pictures of our farms and then took a trip from Missouri Valley, IA to Hamburg, IA.  It is really hard to put it into words the devastation that we saw while we were up there.  We live about 23 miles from the river (in the hills) so it hasn't affected our crops, land or home, but we know many people who live along the river and/or farm along the Missouri River that are completely underwater.  I can't even imagine that the land, farms and homes will look like once the water is gone and how many years it will take to get it all back to the way it was before the floods....if that's even possible.  

Below are pictures from north of Omaha to Hamburg, IA.  I'll make comments and/or give the location of as many as I can (Kevin would be much better at the descriptions and locations than me, but he's not here right now).  

Flying west towards the Missouri River north of
Omaha, NE.

Interstate 29 that runs north and south
along the river.  As you can tell, this section
of I-29 is closed and will be for quite a while.

North of Omaha:  You can see where the river normally
flows and how far out of it's banks it is right now.

We are still north of Omaha flying south.
This is part of I-29.  

This is a farm along the river and I-29.  

This is an interchange north of Omaha, but I'm not
sure which one.

Eppley Airfield in Omaha, NE pretty much looks
like an island.

Flooding south of Omaha.

More flooding south of Omaha.

The new John Deere location near Glenwood, IA that they
sandbagged around it to keep it from getting flooded.  

Part of the railroad tracks that Union Pacific built up
so they could keep it open.  We saw a train approaching
this section and I can only imagine what was going
through the conductors head as he headed
towards all that water....

This is MidAmerican Motorplex near Glenwood, IA that is
completely under water.  

We saw so many farms completely flooded.  Some you
could only see the tops of the buildings.
So heartbreaking.....

Flooded land

The Nebraska City exit off of I-29.
Those are the tops of the gas stations
that you can see just above the interstate.

Farms floating out in a see of river water.....

So much farmland is completely underwater.....

Near Hamburg, IA.  We couldn't even tell where
the river was suppose to be.....

My heart goes out to all the people who have lost their homes, land and life in this horrible disaster......