TMO Members in the severe Flooding in Nebraska and Iowa!

[Bill Pemberton]

Wanted to thank some of you who called and sent emails asking about my family's safety and if I was affected by the Missouri, Platte, Niobrara, and Loup rivers? I live on high ground , and though there is a creek behind my house it is over 30 ft. down and not affecting me. I know 12coboss is fine also , as he lives South of me about a mile, but his home is literally on a high ridge among the hills North of Omaha. Not sure about Suprman, and Mustang5.0 or others, but hope they pop in and let us know how they are?

This is insane , as everyone thought the flood of 2011 was as bad as it could ever get, but this flood was not just the Mighty Missouri, it is all the streams and rivers feeding it, and many them are flooding at record levels. Over 14 major bridges are destroyed and some towns are completely surrounded by water, essentially islands in a landlocked State. Again , thanks for your kind concerns and hope we hear from our other members in the coming day?

PS- to tell you how crazy this is Offutt Air Force Base, an emergency site for Air Force One in case or a calamity , has 33% of the runway under water, leaving one of the Air Force One duplicate crafts stranded there ( in a dry area ).

 

[Bill Pemberton]

Heard from Suprman, Mustang5.0, and I know 12coboss is okay. Appears most of the guys who are fairly active on the site are fine , which is great!

 

[TymeSlayer]

Happy to hear all are well. That was some storm my friend.

 

[Bill Pemberton]

Thanks Tyme , you guys got a crazy bomb snowstorm , but the wind and rain is what hammered us and caused the quick melt!

 

[Bill Pemberton]

Insane how many roads are washed away , with an entire major entrance freeway into Omaha from the West destroyed. Everyday we are shocked by more damage as the flood was super swift initially with 50+ wind gusts and in some places water just crested yesterday. The repairs will be years and years into the future and those of us ( in the Omaha Metro area ) on TMO are awakening to how extremely lucky we are , after seeing the devastation our neighbors are experiencing. A different disaster, but it opens one's eyes to what folks went through in Houston with the flooding from Hurricane Harvey.

 

[VoodooBoss]

There is some flooding going on there. I hope everyone is OK.

 

[blacksheep-1]

Good to know you all are doing well..I see the air force base is underwater, that's crazy

 

[Bill Pemberton]

Quick note on the Base, none of the housing was affected at all, so no concern to those that are stationed there!! No problems for Stratcom ,or any of the buildings which are critical to it's mission!

 

[lil’Zeus]

Has most of the waters came down yet? I keep watching the info put forth by the RPM track and it just looks terrible. I hope they can salvage the track. 10' of water over it and for as long as it was could end up being real bad if they had much current in that area versus it being most back water.

 

[Bill Pemberton]

10 foot sounds mild , as there are areas they figured were at 14 feet. Still quite nasty , as I-29 is clear down to the Glenwood turnoff , but the track is just South of there and it is still way under water. Everyone is hoping for the best , but a lot of water has drained out , just not there. Likely most of the events , this year will be at MPH in Hastings or in Topeka at Heartland Motorsports Park. I know there have already been some events rescheduled at MPH ( NASA event for April 13-14 is now there ) and others Clubs/Organizations are working hard with Topeka too. Both tracks are quite full this year, but there has been some adjustments made and George Anderson has come up with some Herculean changes to help many groups. Those nearby ( 3-5 hours away) should really consider the Central Region NASA event the 13-14 of April , as many events are not till the end of May, so you miss this one and you have another two months of continuing the Cabin Fever disease of 18-19!! Check out drivenasacentral.com to register and as noted on another thread call me if you are not a NASA member?

Bill P 402-677-5864

 

[Bill Pemberton]

Note : The NASA Central Event has been cancelled in Hastings, on April 13-14. The efforts of the Regional Director of NASA Central and the Motorsports Park Hastings were hampered by the last minute schedule change due to flooding , and quite a few folks cancelled their plans and made others before the substitute race weekend could be organized.

For those wanting some extra track time prior to the Mustang Roundup in September ( www.racemph.com ) , there is a NASA Central Event there in the middle of June . Check out www.drivenasacentral.com if you want to go to that event?

 

[302BOB]

My Prayers go out for everybody dealing with this!!!Mother Nature can be a force to be reckoned with at tymes!!....I've surely had to deal with her wrath!!!

 

[lil’Zeus]

Any links or updates on track conditions? I saw a 1320 drone video a few weeks ago that showed the road course rising to the surface as the waters are draining away. I have looked and they haven't up dated anything in a while.

 

[Coz]

https://www.military.com/daily-news...necks-after-flooding-destroys-simulators.html

 

[Bill Pemberton]

The drag strip is up and running and the Des Moines Valley Region of the SCCA recently held a Charity Autocross to help with the track rebuilding. The road course has some sections in quite good shape , but having viewed the entire course myself, there are areas that will need resurfacing or aggressive patching. Overall, the damage done by the flooding of 2019 ( which actually included two distinct periods ) has done less damage to the two racing surfaces ( drag strip and road course) than many predicted. There is an optimism that the road course may be back up, to a degree , later this year , but next year is looking more promising.

 

[12coBoss]

I actually ran the morning session last Friday, the first Friday they have held all year. For being under water just a couple months ago i was impressed with where it was at. Surface was clean, just a little dirt on some inside apex's. Grass and weeds are nice and tall, so that limited vision on upcoming corners a little. A few bumps in some parts of the course, but it was like that before so not bad.

Parking lot is a little rougher than before and still pretty dirty with lots of weeds. Did make a journey off course and was kind of glad I hit a nice soft patch or mud to stop me before running into tires. I couldn't believe I was able to drive out, just a little mud and grass and weed clean up underneath and back on track. I wasn't overly pushing it, and the slicks i had on are form last year or year before and by end of day were on cords and was still able to get within a couple seconds of my quickest time.

So all in all I couldn't complain to where it is at now, from being under a few feet of water just a couple months ago.

 

[drano38]

Glad to hear its improving. Would like to make it down for a Fast Friday, but weekends are pretty busy thru fall.
July 4th weekend on the way to Oklahoma, I drove around Offutt AFB. What a mess. As the pics in the links show, most buildings on the east low part of the base had been 1/2 full of water (or more) before the water went down. Contractors are going to be busy making them usable again.

 

[12coBoss]

I'll be going down again this Friday. I was going to go out to Hastings, but since they are running bikes this weekend they don't want anyone running slicks on Friday. I have another set of slicks i need to cord, so looks like RPM it is. If anyone is interested let me know, not sure if I am running morning or afternoon session yet.