drove down 35 from Ames this morning to drop the oldest off with grandma. guys were out kayaking through Otter Creek while others were still golfing.
***OFFICIAL 2026 WEATHER THREAD***
- Thread starter nfrine
- Start date
drove down 35 from Ames this morning to drop the oldest off with grandma. guys were out kayaking through Otter Creek while others were still golfing.
Just finished a good podcast series about that (that flood, not the camp specifically) if it is of interest. It's called "Where The River Took Us."
Didn't have water the in basement this morning when I got up, but I just went down to get something from my office and sure enough we have wet carpet now. **** ME
Makes no sense that 9 hours later I now have water.
Makes no sense that 9 hours later I now have water.
Grounds are very saturated. My sump pump is still running
Channel 13 saying another 2 inches tonight for the same areas
The worst. Is the water table so high that water is coming in through the basement walls?
I think it's coming where the walls meet the floor.
But that's the thing that's baffling. The basement floor is approx. 20' above the lower pond, so we are up high. Everything slopes away from the front (west) of the house down to the lower pond. Everything slopes from the back (east) of the house to a valley that runs downhill to the upper pond. A three season room sits on the north site keeping that side of the foundation from getting saturated. The south side is a gravel driveway that slopes away from the house.
We haven't had any issues since building the 3 season room because that was the side that would get really saturated right next to the foundation.
That's definitely a possibility. In order for the drainage tile around your house to function at its best it has to have some air in the lines--think pouring gas out of a can without venting it. When the ground gets overly saturated the tile will work as intended just not as efficiently as when it is not put to it's limits, and the water it is trying to remove is seeking its easiest path which may be the seem between the footings and the walls. Under normal conditions the system may not be working to its fullest but adequately enough as to not cause any problems
So now get a shark that your kids play with at a water park, tie it to something heavy and throw it in the water. You might get on tv.
I've been using one of these for the last few months. My wife's office gets 5 degrees hotter than every other room in the afternoon. It's smart enough to only run when the air is running. It's been worth it.
It did take a little playing around to get the settings right. I think we set it so it doesn't kick in until it registers below 67 and a maximum speed of 7. AC infinity is the brand.
I don't think we have tile around the house. The guy who built it/we bought it from wasn't smart enough to do that.
It seems the wettest areas are the north side which id weird because that is where the 3 season room is and keeps water away from that foundation area.
Got a humidifier down there until the cleaning people come tomorrow with their powerful fans and dehumidifiers.
Looking at Army Corps of Engineers history of flood events along Four Mile creek. Most of the extreme events are in the past 10 years or so. I take that to mean with the growth of Ankeny and surrounding area in the same time, that creek can’t handle the storm sewer runoff that is now part of that watershed. That is a problem.
Possibly, and I’m not smart enough to know. The two biggest events during my 10 years along 4 mile were pretty extreme outliers. 2018 was something like 20 inches in spots over 36 to 48 hours or something, and then yesterday which had 9 to 12 inches in a shorter timeframe. There was a pretty big effort to improve water flow just north of Briarwood north of 36th street. Once again I’m not smart enough to know what was actually done, why it was done, and how effective it was supposed to be.
Long time residents I spoke with say 2008 (or around) was the worst, and that four mile at briarwood golf course regularly flooded for a very long time in a manner similar to today.
Anecdotal reports I heard today made it sound like it was worse north of the Ankeny metro.
Last edited:
According to the Army Corps, this was the second highest level.
2018 was worst. 2010 was third and two in 2008 were fourth and fifth.
