If you are seeing news stories around the country about Iowa flooding, they are mostly centered on Cedar Rapids, which is about 20 miles north of here and on the Cedar River. If the national media hasn't tired of it by next week, the stories will likely be centered here in Iowa City. We are on the Iowa river which is rising fast but hasn't reached the dramatic levels of the Cedar.

Yet.

We are being told to expect the river to rise at least 10 feet higher than its highest point in the historic 1993 floods. The crest is not expected until sometime next week and it continues to rain. Our house should not be endangered, but we are preparing for other disruptions. I actually had myself worked up into a pretty good panic this afternoon and was starting to make preparations to leave town with the boys and head to my parents' house in Evanston. A long drive and perhaps an extreme response, but there's legitimate speculation that all roads in and out of town could be cut off by next week. I started thinking about panic scenes at local grocery stores if the stocks run low and deliveries can't be made. I was also thinking about carrying out every day functions without water or electricity for days, perhaps weeks on end.

In the end, I dispatched myself to the grocery store for 10 gallons of bottled water (an arbitrary figure--it looks ridiculous on the kitchen counter and I hope we don't need it, but will be glad to have it if the time comes.) Also bread and some other staples. Now we just watch and wait with the rest of the community.