I live smack-dab in the middle of the state, four hours away from Omaha, and these are some pictures my friends and family have taken.
There are so many bridges out, so many roads impassable. Hundreds of people are stranded.
See this little island? Zoom in. Those are cows. Stranded, freezing, with no food, in the middle of calving season.
People have been losing 3 out of every 5 baby cows, because they are freezing in the mud before farmers and ranchers can even get to them.
This is my Uncle’s house, on the left
It’s a two story, and that water is six feet below the roof. They have my grandparent’s camper parked next the the barn (on the right) and you can’t even see it. My uncle has three young kids, the oldest of which has severe cerebral palsy, and now they’re living out of a hotel. My aunt only had time to pack two suitcases for the five of them. They had to leave everything else.
Really you guys, Nebraska has been flooded before, we have tornadoes every year, our temperatures are just as extreme as Chicago or Phoenix - but this is so much worse than any of that. I know there are worse things going on in the world, but this is happening too, and it’s going to impact so much more than most people think it will. Nebraska is a huge supplier of beef, pork, corn, and soybeans. Just in my hometown we have a huge Tyson processing plant that is weeks behind in production because the trucks can’t get through, and it’s costing a lot of people their jobs. This is serious.
