Important Message From Perfect Game

.
All the best thoughts your way!...hang tough!

44
.

Best of luck to the PG staff and their families - and to all in the flooded regions

08

oh! I hope all your families and friends are OK. Take care.

Been following the tornado and floods out that way and thought of PG.

Stay safe, prayers coming from Florida.

Everyone is safe, but many without homes, right now.

I live out in the country so everything is alright there.

A railroad bridge went down today and people can't get from one side of the city to the other. All the bridges are closed and in danger.

This is a real disaster. I'm sure the weather network will have lots of coverage. Worst flood ever in our town, by far.

What the heck is going on?

We get a chance to watch many of the best high school players this weekend and we will not get rained out because it's in a domed stadium. All is not bad!

Thanks for the thoughtfulness, but everything will be fine.

Our thoughts and prayers are with you all, Jerry. I have family all over Iowa and have concerns for them as well.

Jerry, you and your entire crew there will be in our thoughts and prayers. Hang in there, be safe and it'll work out in the end.

Prayers from me too PG for you, yours, and all the folks in and around in Iowa. Some very sad and touching stories making the news.

Our thoughts and prayers are for you.

Oh my, I had been wondering about your facility after hearing the news reports today, knowing your building is not far from downtown and the river.

So relieved to hear that everyone is safe, at least. If there is anything this forum can do to help, please let me know!

Julie

Photos of downtown Cedar Rapids - Perfect Game's building is, I believe, about a mile or less from this:
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hw95ek5Sllmi4SoQ_N4HJvwHE0ZAD918SP700

P.S. Jerry, please call my cell if there is anything I can do this weekend regarding computer stuff etc.

PG, best of wishes from the NW. I'm thinking about Iowa today.

Stay safe.

Goodness,......, those pictures are just unbelieveable.





First and foremost, thank goodness everyone is safe on your end.
Has relief/help come?

It's been a wild winter and one heck of a summer so far here in the midwest.

Anything we can do to help?

Hang in there....

From MSNBC.COM :

quote:

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa - This city had hoped the worst would be over by Friday, but instead the Cedar River keeps rising and has now swamped more than 400 blocks and forced thousands to flee. In Des Moines, meanwhile, officials issued a voluntary evacuation order as the Des Moine River neared the tops of levees.

quote:

Much of the Midwest remained under threat of more severe weather, with yet another storm front moving through Kansas, Missouri and Wisconsin.

The whole state of Iowa is under water, just unbeleivable.

When we were driving from Omaha to Lincoln Nebraska 2 weeks ago to watch UC Irvine play in the regionals there, we were driving at night in the worst lightning storm I have ever seen. There were also tornadoes in the towns around us. It was very scary!

It seems the weather has gotten worse and worse in many areas of the country. What is going on?

To Jerry and the PG Staff:
Our thoughts and prayers are with you all. We have extra room in our house in So Cal if anyone needs a place to camp out! We'll try not to have any earthquakes if you come out our way anytime soon.

my thoughts and prayers going out to pg staff and the residents of cedar rapids.

i just returned from a trip which took me through iowa, illinois and missouri. saw the flooding on both sides of I-80 in iowa and also saw it again along the banks of the mississippi river near ft. madison, iowa. very scary stuff !

news reports are that flooding is also bad in racine, wisconsin and the wisconsin dells.

everyone.....please keep safe !

We drove up through 29, not sure if that area is as bad. It's west of there. 80 does go straight through Omaha, and not sure if that way would be approachable.

This is a great community hre at the HSBBW. It's the reason I enjoy this site so much. Thanks to all who have posted and to the many others who I know care even though they haven't posted.

It really is a disaster in Cedar Rapids, but things could be much much worse. I've been out of town for a few days and haven't seen the worst of all this firsthand. In ways I feel we are very lucky that no lives were lost. It's just going to be real uncomfortable for awhile for a lot of people.

The worst disasters cost lives. They happen everywhere.

It would sure help if the economy improved.

Thanks again to everyone for the thoughts.

PG Staff - The pictures I am seeing on the web are unbelievable. I feel for all the PG employees that are in Minneapolis doing there jobs while their homes are at risk. I am sure they are torn between a great PG event and their personal situations. I wish the best to all the people in Iowa...let us know if there is anything the HSbbweb community can do to help.

I'd like to join the ranks of those who care and have posted.



With the rainouts you are always fighting and now right there at home with you, I am beginning if maybe you should change your screen name to Moses.

Jerry ....

Prayers and good wishes from So Cal as your Iowa family deals with this major disaster. May God bring an end to it sooner rather than later and may He protect all from the ravages of this weather.

Photos of the Cedar Rapids flooding from our Minneapolis paper today (below).

"The Cedar River has forced at least 24,000 people from their homes" (of the city's population of 120,000 people).

The Cedar River is expected to crest today (Saturday), and then the floodwaters should take a week to 10 days to recede - if they do not have more rain.

"Officials guess it will be four days before the Cedar River drops enough for workers to even begin pumping out water that has submerged at least 438 blocks, threatened the Cedar Rapids drinking water supply and forced the evacuation of a downtown hospital."

Can you imagine what it would take to make a home livable again after being filled with that muddy water for a week or so? I would guess most of the homes will have to be re-built. My heart goes out to all of those families, and I'm hoping the homes of our friends at PG are all unaffected. Much of their staff will be on the road for most of the summer, with this weekend's National Showcase here in Minneapolis, almost immediately followed by 5 solid weeks of WWBA tourneys in Georgia, and more events filling most of August.

PHOTOS:

Neigbors lending some support to each other:



This is Highway 6:

Thanks for those photos Julie. Simply amazing that the red light is still on. Sadly it can do nothing to stop the water. Lord what a mess. I want to extend my sympathies to all those thousands affected.

quote:

Originally posted by FormerObserver:
I'd like to join the ranks of those who care and have posted.



With the rainouts you are always fighting and now right there at home with you, I am beginning if maybe you should change your screen name to Moses.

Same here Jerry.

I hope everyone stays safe and that it gets better real soon.

Hang in there!

A few more photos from today's (Sunday) Minneapolis paper. Here's a glimpse of what our friends at Perfect Game will encounter when they finish up the National showcase here tonight and head back to Cedar Rapids.

This railroad bridge collapsed into the Cedar River because of the strong current. Houses floating down the river became trapped against the fallen bridge.

PG staff and everyone there,
wow those pictures are unbelievable. Our prayers are with all of you.

Prayers too from Massachusetts. The pictures are unbelievable...

Jerry...We have had you and your family in our thoughts and prayers. My son remembers his visit to your event in Cedar Rapids and has voiced his concern for you. Hopefully, things will get better soon.

Thanks again to all who have posted, sent messages and emails. Our building was not hit very badly. We have people ripping out carpet, cleaning and sanitizing everything. We will be just fine.

A couple of our people weren't so lucky, but they too could have had it worse.

Today I took my first trip around town on the roads you could drive on. The water has receded a lot and you can see the water/mud lines on buildings and houses. Some buildings were completely underwater with the water/mud line on signs above the building. It's a very sad site!

They interviewed a guy on the local news who worked for a big restoration firm out of Texas. He has seen nearly every large flood over many years. He said this is the worst he has ever seen. They are very concerned with the contamination over the next month or more.

We feel very fortunate and do not need any help. However, there are some 20,000 people or more who have it real bad. We plan on helping as much as we can.

Anyway, we appreciate the thoughts, but don't feel sorry for us, we were among the lucky ones. I really feel sorry for those who are now without a home.

Those in Florida and Louisiana have much more experience with this stuff than we do. I would still take this over one of those tornados that have flattened entire towns and taken lives.

More bad news:
From MSNBC.com

quote:

Beyond the short-term losses from physical damage and lost business, the worst flood to hit the U.S. breadbasket in 15 years has added momentum to the recent surge in food prices worldwide.

Farmers and local officials were still assessing the damage Tuesday, as millions of acres of farmland remain submerged and thousands of Iowa residents were unable to return home due to the flooding.
Iowa Gov. Chet Culver said the state’s losses totaled in the billions of dollars, with 83 of 99 counties declared disasters and seeking federal aid.

PG quote:

quote:

However, there are some 20,000 people or more who have it real bad. We plan on helping as much as we can.

Please let us know how we can help too. If there is an organization that will be accepting donations, or a particular case(s) that you know of that we can help with, please share with us so we can lend a hand and perhaps help somehow.

I heard on NPR this morning that the local Red Cross is completely out of funds. I just donated here:
Red Cross online donation site

We haven't been able to find out any "legitimate" organizations that are taking donations where all the money will go to the flood victims. However, I would think the Red Cross would be one.

We would start one ourselves, but don't want to be perceived as a scam to others. We have been told that there will be some "scams" where the donations will not end up with those who are needing help.

As soon as we can find a "legitimate" organization that we are positive will do things right, I will post it here.

Thanks

quote:

As soon as we can find a "legitimate" organization that we are positive will do things right, I will post it here.

Please do......& thank you.
There are many who want to help and just need to know how.

PGStaff,

I'm sure many of our members would consider it a blessing to be allowed to help by donating to an organization that will directly help your neighbors. Many of them may lose so much if they didn't have flood insurance and their houses are not salvageable.

Please let us know if you are able to identify a means to donate directly to the flood victims in Cedar Rapids.

Julie

This is from the Red Cross website:

"The American Red Cross honors donor intent. If you wish to designate your donation to a specific disaster please do so at the time of your donation by either contacting 1-800-HELP NOW or mailing your donation, with the designation, to the American Red Cross, P.O. Box 37243, Washington, D.C. 20013."

Red Cross Issues Appeal for Disaster Relief Fund

Iowa Flood Affected Areas

This one looks legit. It's locally based:

Greater Cedar Rapids Community Foundation