The Waterloo/Cedar Falls (Iowa) area has been hit with some major flooding in the last few days. Downtown has been evacuated. All but one bridge has been closed. A railroad bridge has washed away as well.

My family lives far enough away from the river so they have not been directly affected by the flooding. Mom did say it is difficult to get around town though because so many roads are closed. They are supposed to get about 6 more inches or rain this week.

Waterloo Cedar Falls Courier
KWWL Channel 7 News

Here in Greenville, we are still in a drought. We pretty much skipped right over the pleasant early summer weather and went directly to the record-breaking 95-100 degrees. It's been hot! Tonight we had a pretty good thunderstorm though. It was short, but I did go out on the porch and watch it. I love the smell of rain! That was one thing I missed while I lived on Guam. It didn't smell the same as it does in the States when it rained. They started replacing the roof on my apartment today. Hopefully it was covered well enough to keep the water out! :-) I don't see any leaks yet!

Oh, and I saw yesterday that somewhere in Washington State got about a foot of snow!

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I have spent the last couple weeks in Waterloo, IA for Christmas with my family. The last couple days have been FREEZING! Right now it's -1 and the wind chill is -16. Brrr!!! The high today is supposed to be 8 degrees.

The (update 6/11/08 - link is broken. Not sure if it is permanent or due to high web traffic or other problems related to the current flooding) webcam for today comes courtesy of KWWL news in Waterloo, IA. (They don't have a direct link to it, so below the weather maps you'll need to click on the Skycams button.)

The weather in Greenville is cold right now too, but looks to be in the mid to upper 60s when I get back, so it will feel like a heat wave to me!

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I've now been rebooked for an earlier flight out of Detroit. I'm waitlisted in Minneapolis for two flights and still confirmed on the late flight just in case the others are still full.

They're now predicting 10-14" of snow for Detroit by tomorrow night!

The good news? My luggage made it home! I think that's the first time my luggage made it there before me! :-)

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I left Greenville today for Iowa. My plane was delayed, but we were supposed to arrive only a few minutes late to Detroit. By the time we arrived, I had about 20 minutes to catch my next flight. Ordinarily, that might be enough time, but...the jet bridge wasn't working, so we sat on the plane for...you guessed it...20 minutes! When we finally got off, the gate agent checked & they were about to close the door on my connecting flight at the other end of the terminal.

Northwest was kind enough to put me up in a hotel and give me meal vouchers. Apparently there were lots of delayed flights because the they rebooked me on a 9pm Sunday flight! That means I get to Iowa at 11:30pm. Ugh!

There are earlier flights from Detroit to Minneapolis, but apparently all the flights from Minneapolis to home are full. I'm going to try and rebook on an earlier flight from Detroit and try to get a standby seat from Minneapolis.

Oh, and did I mention there is a storm brewing in Detroit? They're predicting 4-8"

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I grew up in Iowa where it can get pretty cold in the winter. I spent 7 years in Wisconsin and endured 30 below temperatures at times. And 10" of snow at the end of April. And yet, in Greenville, SC, I freeze when it gets below 60! People laugh at me for being bundled up in a sweater and a light coat. I really want to wear my warmer winter one, but when it gets "really" cold I won't have any more warm layers to put on!

Please understand, living on a tropical island thins your blood. If you get too cold inside the air conditioning (or air con as it's called there), you go outside to warm up!

I will be in Iowa for 3 weeks over Christmas. I think I'll turn into a human Popsicle. They've already had snow there. It will be good to be with family, but I think I'll be wishing we could all be together on the beach - where I spent Christmas the last two years! They don't know what they're missing! :-)

If the weather gets cold in your area and you need a new coat, I found some on clearance (50% off or more) at Amazon for women and men. Christmas idea for the sports fan in your family - the men's clearance had quite a few different styles of lightweight NFL jackets 60% off!

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It's been hazy here the last few days. Today I couldn't see the ocean from my office and the nearby mountain was very hazy as well. Normally that only happens when it's rainy. What was the cause of all this gloominess? It depends on your news source! The newspaper says it is smog from Russia, China and Japan. The TV news says it is dust from the Gobi Desert in China. Funny thing - they both site the National Weather Service (NWS) as their source!

You can read the official release from NWS here. Homeland Security also issued an advisory. One of the symptoms is general lack of energy. I think I'll call in "haze sick" tomorrow! In fact, I think I have a permanent case of haze! :-)

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