Thanks to everyone who commented with good wishes. I'll try to thank people individually as soon as I can.

Bizarrely, it was a beautiful day, at least if you weren't near the flooded areas. The sun's come out, and, even better, the river has crested. They think it will drop to the previous record level of 20 feet by Wednesday. The crest was somewhere between 32 and 33 feet above flood stage. (I still can't wrap my mind around that number.) It probably won't drop below flood stage for a week.

Unfortunately, the water situation is still bad, so I'm trying to figure out ways to use flood water to flush the toilets. I'm saving rain water for plants. (Yes, I may need to water them, because I planted on what a gardener might describe as "well-drained soil." That's probably the only reason some of the poor things didn't drown.) Our domestic hero, Mr. M, braved the stores and bought paper plates, plastic knives and forks, and food that requires minimal preparation. He also managed to find some bottled water to use when the supply that I saved yesterday morning in our biggest stew pots runs out. So we should be okay even if the city water goes out completely, at least until the stores can get in more water.

At the moment, what is normally a 15-mile drive to Iowa City and Interstate 80 involves a 140-mile detour. But I'm sure they'll be getting in supplies from the north. A lot of people have mentioned Katrina, but we're nowhere near as isolated as NO was, and the authorities are doing a much better job. (I was a bit nervous, though, when I heard FEMA was coming to the state today.) Many of the displaced people are from poorer neighborhoods, but they also tend to have deep roots in the community. To give you an idea, 12,000 people were evacuated, and only about 250 wound up in shelters. Animals were rescued as well, and a police force from a community that wasn't affected by the flooding offered to boat in and pick up any pets that had been left behind in the crazy rush of yesterday's evacuations.

Kudos to the police, firefighters, National Guard, and everyone else I see pitching in around here. They had so many people offering to sandbag that in several places they had to turn volunteers away.

Please send good vibes to Iowa City. They're in for a bad weekend.