My experience with flooding is primarily from living and farming for 46 years; then for another almost 16 years, still living on a farm while a truck driver. A combined 62 years in rural Mercer County, IL.
We farmed high flat to rolling ground, and creek and river flood plain as well. If we had an inkling that rain was in the forecast, no farm equipment was left overnight in the flood prone areas,.... except one time....
Spring of 74 my dad was planting a flood prone field, the lighting system on the old tractor marginal, so at dark Dad stopped for the night right where he was at, and shut down. There was a slight chance of rain forecast. A couple hours later came the slight chance. By daylight the next morning we had received around 7”. I drove to that farm, looked down the hill to view the bottom field...
It was a lake, probably 12 to 14 feet higher than the river banks. The tractor and planter were parked at the high end of that bottom field, and still all that was visible was the top few inches of the exhaust stack and about 4’ of the 11’ tall planter markers.
After that experience we always left our equipment on high ground at shutdown, rain or no rain forecasted.
Wow! That’s a lasting memory, I’m sure. I have never lived anywhere that was prone to flooding.
‘Spongy lawn’ is the worst I’ve experienced. Our farm is hilly, (Driftless Area of SW WI) and all the crop land is terraced to stop erosion, but we are way, way, like 1,000’s of feet above any flood zone.
Beau says if THIS place floods, it IS The End of the World.
I hope I’m not here if that happens, or that I can still book passage with a guy named, ‘Noah.’ ;)