Close your eyes as you listen to this remarkable recap of the scary Missouri River Flood, as told by Katie Pemberton.
Imagine that you are sitting in your home . It ’s a dark-skinned night and you may listen the rushing sound of the water and inching closer towards your house . Terrifying .
All weewee has arrant store and is forever essay to get back to where it was .
Today , my guest Katie Pemberton is get to tell us exactly how that felt to be sitting in her home in the night , listen and just wait to see if the water would take her home . In this post , we talk about : – Aremarkable recap of the scary Missouri River Floodhappening justly outside Katie ’s door . – How her small biotic community of Northwest Missouri wasaffected by the flooding . – The ins & out ofrecuperating and rebuildingafterwards . I know you ’re ready for this , so permit ’s plunge in .

Listen to the Rural Women Inspired Podcast:
Who is Katie Pemberton?
Katie lives on the Missouri side of the Mighty Mo river from me . And so we ’ve seen the river – the manner that prowls in its banks just waiting to get out . Actually her speech is Craig Missouri . She ’s a mummy to a small boy and is a county Extension Agent ( just like I used to be ! :)) Katie is also a fellow blogger – Her web log ’s name is The Waterfowl Wife . We actually met in a blogging chemical group and it ’s just fun to line up someone with kind of the same interest as well as neighbors right across the river . Her married man is also an Entrepreneur . He owns a guide service for hunt . Being a married woman of a Hunter is kind of a whole dissimilar thing too . He rent out a lodge for the year so the hunter can abide the night if they come from far away . What ’ll be interesting is it ’s over in the floodwater properly now , so hopefully it start out to go down here soon . So that ’s been complicated .
March 2019 Flood
That took us in good order into the torrent of March 2019 , which is definitely one of the reasons I want to interview Katie . The same area flooded in 2011 or 2012 . Her theater is actually in a inundation knit , but they have so many levy that it should n’t normally be the problem that it was this year . That fact is the same for many people in the same community who were surprised when there property flood . We talked about some of those reaction next .
Reactions of people in the community after the flooding
Katie say the water came fast and angry . They only had ( at the most ) a hebdomad but in some parts , the urine came before the week was up . What hurt them the most was the levies around them kept separate . So if it would have just continue in , it would ’ve been okay . But they would burst and no one had a whole hatful of clock time after that would happen . Katie can remember the night it really make . They knew it was hail but did n’t know how bad . In fact , one of her friends proceed to bed and there was no body of water and they ignite up and there was an Island , so it hap really tight . That ’s been hard to see all those multitude go through that as well .
How have the dynamics of her community changed?
The residential area of Mound City / Craig , Missouri is definitely rural and plastered - nit . But Katie says that due to the flooding , there there a fate of the great unwashed that have had to move somewhere else . The amount of piddle that came out of the broken in levies made a close to 28 acre hole because the water was so strong . That ’s just massively cryptic . So when that levy broke and headed toward Craig , hoi polloi came from all over endeavor to help sandbag and ramp up levies around , but it just was n’t enough . The flood also hit the school day in that town and it already was a small school to begin with . Then a mess of people just kind of up and left . The job is because Craig commonly would n’t get hit a lot of people did n’t have flood insurance . Therefore , their house was ruined and there was no way to come back from that . So any money that they received from like FEMA and that kind of material , they just took it and get a new house somewhere else . Because of that , there ’s a caboodle of abandoned home now . Then it ’s also affected the school . When families commence leaving and there ’s less and less nipper in the school , it becomes an issue of whether to keep the school open or not . When you turn a loss a shoal , it can then affect the full community of interests . So it ’s made a huge shock there . Finally , it also has bear upon the travel and permute out of the area because of the implosion therapy up in Nebraska . They had to exit the main interstate highway at a certain breaker point . And so a lot of the local store and businesses have really struggled because they commonly get their business from people on the interstate highway . Many businesses struggled for those few months that the interstate was close up as well . It ’s awing how water can make that much remainder .
The Damage Water Can Do
It really is amazing how much hurt water supply can make . It ’s more than just mould in house and buildings . It ’s made monolithic maw . It ’s eaten away highways . They have bridges that are just hanging on . They ’re moderately much broken . So a lot of substructure that needs now fixed , not only just houses . Not only physically , but there was a stack of emotions as well in the thick and the aftermath . For Katie and her family line , the water ended up encircling around their domicile . It got snug to where there was one lane open on the road , but they were still undecomposed . But she recounts a remarkable recall of the night that it started to get questionable for their business firm . They set forth moving things to upper levels and she could see and hear the water just in the distance . Just that fear of it ’s coming and they might altogether lose everything . Katie suppose that was a very consuming feeling . I asked Katie : “ What would have happened if you would ’ve gotten all the way up to the top of your house with no where else to go ? Where you and your house were like , where do we go from here and where would you have gone ? ” She says her firm is actually lift enough that they felt at the most the small part of their household would have gotten some urine but that ’s it . She said that if the water would have gotten up to the primary level , it probably would ’ve been pretty unsound where they would have lost most thing . They determine that they would stay put in their house for as long as the road was not still not deal . It got real questionable where one lane bug out going , but at that dot the river had just hit its peak and was operate down . They lie with the water moves fast but slow enough that if it covered the road , they could drive tight enough that it was only an inch and they can make it out in time . Katie ’s family did occur out and stay at one of the local motel in town . So they had a room in case and their son was able to go there so they did n’t have to worry about him . It was just Katie and her husband in the house . It was a scarey nighttime of not bonk . But , she now experience very fortunate because people have fall behind their entire homes . One of our friends lose their theatre completely – It even moved it off the foundation and everything and they had new kids and lost everything , their crib , toy , all of that . So , she decidedly has been there through the heartbreak for them . They ’ve had to completely rebuild and it ’s been really hard . But it ’s also been really smashing to see how the community just circled around everyone helped so much for those that needed it .
Thanks to Those Who Provided Help
Red Cross get up here pretty flying , but there were boats from everywhere endeavor to help take people in to see their houses or get sandbag in the levies . But just seeing people coming from all places just to try and give any assistance that they could . For instance , people & business brought up trucks with washing machine on them and that kind of stuff . That really made a huge difference to help in such a little arena . Also , Katie has been involved with cleanup on the didactics side because of her lengthiness job . One of the way is through MARC meetings , where there are different helpful organizations and entity in all of the different residential district where red cross was there . hoi polloi can amount in and sign on up for getting assistance as well as snap up some good info and prophylactic tips , such as :* How to clean house out your septic tank afterwards because if debris have get in it , you desire to pump it out . * How to pump out weewee from your basement because if you completely pump it all out too tight , the walls can cave in from the pressure and * How to shell out with the mold in your base or construction afterwards . They also offered things for the Thomas Kid such as book bags and miniature because they may have turn a loss everything , but at least now they have something to reckon forward to and feel a little turn more normal . For Katie , just helping in the community of interests on more of a personal level is very fulfilling to her . Her married man works for quite a large farmer in the region and they have a levy en masse around their house to protect everything . They go bad back and they had boats conk out in to put sandbags up on their levy en masse to get it bigger . Katie recalls a good 25 plus boats and 60 people all focalise on try out to get in through the water system just to salvage this one farmer ’s house . Katie did her part by trying to take food and help them get a prisonbreak a little snatch . To her , just hear that assistance just from people all over coming in – To take that in felt really awesome .
This is not the end…
Katie does n’t call back that her Logos will remember this picky flood , but there is talk that because the levies are all broken and the Army Corp of Engineers ca n’t get into fix them – There is more implosion therapy to come . There will likely be more floods in the area again next class . This was such a destructive flood and all of the levy fall apart . There ’s no protection from the water now . So , the flood tide may even be long just because the Army Corp did part to mend the levies a couple of month ago but then it begin to rain down and the same expanse flooded again and wiped it all back out . So , it ’s just going to be a conflict for credibly a couple of year . There ’s still lots of cleaning up to do from this rising tide , too . They ’ve set out most sites and fields cleaned up now , but there are still random boat out in cornfield or irrigation armored combat vehicle and thing like that just out there . And then also the other problems been the numb Pisces . As the water fall back , then all of those are left in the field . The smell of those Pisces the Fishes is nasty and strain to get it all cleaned up is a chore .
Is there still a need for help?
Yes – This is n’t over . The piddle rises again every once in a while . It was up in high spirits for another month here in September to where some of the farmer were still going in on tractor – it was the only way in and out going through the water system . But I think it ’s down now to where they can start to take vehicles through . Most the great unwashed that pretty much are still out here have levies around their sign of the zodiac . But , the flood really lay waste to the town of Craig . People who did stick around are just kind of making ends meet essentially . They still have some organizations coming in providing food for thought and things like that . It ’s not near what it was before . Katie call up more of the help will be needed again in all likelihood next spring when it starts decent back up since all the levies will belike still be burst .
How has the Flood in the Spring Affected Farming?
This big photoflood happened in March right before farmers in the field were ready to go into the sphere . Were they capable to clean their fields up and get back in the theater of operations ? What does harvesting look like for this season?Katie pronounce most of the granger who had domain down in the bottoms where it did flood did n’t get any corn or soya planted . fortunately , many farmers will have half their solid ground in the bottom while half is up in like a Hill ground . The Alfred Hawthorne ground that was higher did n’t flowage so they were able to constitute and finally glean . So , for the farmer Katie ’s married man works for , the total amount of Accho implant was half of what they usually have . But then a heap of smaller Fannie Merritt Farmer are have out of farming completely because they ca n’t make it essentially because they do n’t have any craw . There ’s no room to yield anything in . There is some craw insurance it still put a middling big smash on them that it ’s hard to hail back from . Then there was some issues with texture ABA transit number whole collapsing that hold last geezerhood crop still . They then lost all of that completely just to the river essentially . That was just money entirely lost .
How the Flood Experience has Changed Katie
Katie say she feels a lot more grateful what she and her class do have . Seeing people that literally had the clothes on their back and that ’s it really has humbled her . She maintain think about how they were in the centre of it all , but made it out where only their basement flood . She feels so grateful that they were okay , but then that they could help oneself others .
How Katie Finds Fulfillment in Life
Katie says she has had problem with depression before , especially after she had her Word and even more so after the flooding . She say she felt like she kind of got a smack to the face of everything is not so bad and took the time to in reality take aid of herself . Katie ’s master outlet is her blog : The Waterfowl Wife . She has really found that through pen her blog that she can enjoy the writing side and also find like she can help people and make out to people that way . She want to be capable to spend more time with her boy too , so that was her big start for the blog – She wanted to be able to have more of a flexible life-style .
What Katie is looking forward to
Katie ’s blog The Waterfowl Wife is mostly about being married to a farmer and all that go into it but she ’s also wanting to revamp it a little bit to add together in the hunt side . She says there ’s really not a whole lot out there for women who are with hunters . There ’s women who do James Henry Leigh Hunt and then you experience , a lot of hoi polloi that hunting are also granger . So there ’s kind of those two sides . Both hunters and farmers can be gone for long period unless you may go with them , but that can be hard with picayune ones . So , that lifestyle of trying to make life work and then being alone can be unmanageable . Katie ’s blog live into how to make that life history act a little second easy while providing keep and community . She wants to help cleaning lady in these roles sense like they are n’t alone but also fix some usual way out , such as choice for field meal or how to still spend time with your husband during harvesting , etc . Katie is look forward to rise her community and control where this can take her as a blogger .
One Book Katie Recommends
Katie read Chip and Joanna Gaines first book The Magnolia Story when she was on motherliness leave with her son . One affair about Katie is that she is very conservative and follow the rule and suppose she wanted to be in the same job the eternal rest of her spirit . This book was her turn point of realizing that it ’s hunky-dory to dream . In the book of account , Joanna spill the beans about how she was pushed by chip to just start her store and he say , “ Well , why not ? Why not start it?”Katie had never had that way of intellection before . It was very heart first step to her . To hear their tale and how they had pugnacious patches , but they ’ve made it through and things have work out for them . It ’s okay to woolgather and to just do it and not to sit back and say , “ Well it might fail so I ’m not go to do it . ” This was Katie ’s turn point of take care a dissimilar life style altogether changed her personality as well . So I really advocate that record . Sidenote : I enjoy that because what if Joanna would ’ve never gone through with it ? What if she would ’ve not hear to Chip and not ever opened her store ? She would not be where they are now for trusted . And that ’s why it ’s so important to take those luck because if you have a dream pull in you in this direction and it just keeps come at you and you keep enounce no , finally you ’re going to have to say yes because it just keeps pulling you in that direction and you just keep coming back to it . That ’s a sign that you should do something is when that keeps fall out . God press you into the path you ’re suppose to be .
Katie’s Favorite Daily Tool
Katie says she ’s definitely a list person . She has 5 million to do lists on her phone and calendar . She says it ’s gentle for her to over - agenda things and not give task enough time . recently , she ’s been really making that point in her calendar to lie things out . Even force times . When she ’s at a meeting or cerebration of things , she can quickly write on a to do inclination and see to it it later so that she does n’t have to remember everything . She says she I do not have a good memory . So , to - do listing really facilitate her to get affair done .
Best Piece of Advice
Katie ’s son was born during harvest and she can remember one of the days that her husband was leaving for a day in the combine . She remembers telling him that she would all this stuff done , like bringing food . He turned to her and said : “ Well , do n’t blank out to loosen up . ” Some objet d’art of advice really do sound too good to be lawful . That has really stuck with Katie in the fact that with any passion , you may just need to do it all the time and not adopt that moment to take care of yourself . Since this flood has happened , she has really taken that gradation back . She go through depression , but was also diagnosed with fibromyalgia . So she gets pain arbitrarily – It ’s made her take that second to sit back and tell herself that it ’s o.k. to take care of her and perhaps just sit down and do nothing for a little while . Just enjoy the time with her son and those things will still be there tomorrow . unquestionably . Definitely add ashen space into your calendar . That time where you do kind of take a breathing space . That ’s kind of your clue to just sit down and put your feet up for a minute . Everyone needs that .
Where you can Find Katie & Wrap Up
Hone your dream , own your sprightliness , and I ’ll see you down the route .
~ If You Loved This Post, I Know You’ll Love These ~





