Patrick Thornburg grew up in Oakville, Iowa, a town of 430 people that was wiped out by the recent flood. If you haven’t read his post, click here.

He sent us these photos today. The sign says Welcome to Oakville.

Patrick’s family homestead is among those below.

The levee which broke and let the flood waters in.

The trailer Patrick’s sister owned, but did not occupy, rotated 90 degrees off axis and tilted. You can see it in the second photo near the center bottom.

Patrick notes:

A partial list of towns with major flooding June 2008:

Wisconsin - Kickapoo River :

Gays Mills
La Farge
Ontario
Hillsboro
Viola
Ontario
Viroqua

Wisconsin - Rock River :

Newville
Janesville
Milton

Illinois - Mississippi River :

Moline
Rock Island
Keithsburg
Gulfport
Quincy
Meyer
Grafton
Hamburg

Missouri  - Mississippi River :

Clarksville
LaGrange
Louisiana
Foley
Winfield
Elsberry
Canton

Iowa  - Mississippi River :

Davenport
Muscatine
Burlington
Fort Madison
Keokuk

Iowa  - Des Moines River :

Des Moines
Eddyville
Ottumwa
Eldon

Iowa  - Cedar River :

Cedar Falls
Waterloo
Vinton
Palo
Cedar Rapids
Rochester
Cedar Bluff

Iowa  - Iowa River :

Tama
Chelsea
Marengo
Iowa City
Fredonia
Columbus Junction
Wapello
Oakville

I haven’t found the names of towns from Indiana and Minnesota.

In my opinion, based on the weather this year, here is the probable cause of the large floods in June.

This past winter, the upper Midwest received very high snowfalls that accumulated without melting.  The snow melted later than normal helping to saturate the ground.  Numerous spring rains soaked even more.  Many farmers have had to delay planting because of the wet ground.

A front stalled across the region causing large rainfalls with measurements of up to 8 inches a day during the first two weeks of June.  The water-logged soil could not soak up any more precipitation causing the large runoffs and the great floods seen. 

Any big rainfalls will cause additional flooding.  We need a dry period to help the ground recover.  Some rain is expected many days this week.