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Alternative routes?

A stretch of Interstate 80 closed yesterday in the county just to the east of us because the Cedar River began flowing over top of it. Check out the time-lapse photography on the IDOT site. Note the RAPIDS forming on the left side of the screen. This interstate highway is four lanes, with a large grassy median in between eastbound and westbound lanes. I-80 is the main east-west arterial freeway through southcentral Iowa. Don't know what the recommended detour is for getting across our state, but if the detour for travelers to get between Iowa City and Cedar Rapids is any indication, lots of people will be going way the hell out of their way.

At last check, the recommended detour for getting to CR from IC is by driving west on I-80 to Des Moines, then north on I-35, east on highway 20 to Waterloo and back south to CR. That turns a normally 25-30 mile trip into a 281-mile quest.

But there's really no need to even leave the house tonight, since we're under a mandatory curfew. No one is allowed within a football field's length of the flood waters between 8:30 p.m. and 6 a.m. tonight through Wednesday. Technically that would mean we couldn't go to the grocery store without risking ticketing or, heaven forbid, a trip to jail. Now that I think about it, though, the jail might be at risk of flooding, too.

A note about the weather: Tim shot some wild pictures of clouds that were rotating right above our house, as well as a gorgeous double rainbow after the rain passed. I'm sure he'll post them at some point...

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