Operation Worm Rescue (with pictures!)

The first few days of the rain were not too bad. Really horrible weather, including torrential downpours, many lightning strikes, loud and constant thunder, an on again, off again Tornado Watch and Warning. All in all, last week was fun! We had so much bad weather here in Southwest Michigan that the local weatherman on television was, I firmly believe, having either a near-sexual experience or a brain aneurism.

Personally, I love bad weather of this sort. It can be a pain in the ass when we lose power, but it usually does not stay out very long. Nothing in the refrigerator goes bad or spoils in the few hours the power is out. If we do have power, I like to have the TV set to the local weather, watching the Doppler radar track the progress of the storm. But ONLY if the storm has a chance of actually hitting us. If it is too far North or South, who cares?

So after six days of rain, some of it very heavy, I see the flood warnings spring up. I have seen flood warning in the past, nothing new. But I have never actually seen any flooding. That changed on Sunday, when my two older daughters and I went for a bike ride. We are fortunate living where we do: there are a great many places for riding bikes. (Eat your heart out, Bruce!) One of the main places people go is a place called Linear Park. Not so much a park, but a long, 17 mile paved stretch of pedestrian roadway which weaves all through Battle Creek. (For those interested, click here to learn more about Linear Park.)

The segment of Linear Park closest to our home is also very close to the Kalamazoo River. And on Sunday, we found that much of Linear Park was now underwater. It is an odd sensation to be coasting along on your bike; on a trail you have taken a hundred times, only to find that the trail now ends in a newly formed lake!

The Kalamazoo River had risen and overflowed its banks after all the heavy rainfall on the last week. In many places, the river now extends over twenty feet from its original shoreline.

Here are a few pictures:

In this last picture was where Raechel, my oldest daughter (ten years old next month!) found the hundreds of victims from the flooding. Homeless, surrounded by water on three sides, the flood victims wandered aimlessly looking for shelter. But it was Raechel, with much help from sister Brittaney, who stepped up and saved many, many lives.

The earthworms, which usually live in the ground to either side of Linear Park, had fled their homes in a vain attempt to keep from drowning. Forced from their homes, the found the only dry ground, the dryness of the pavement. Understanding that the worms would soon dehydrate from exposure of the sun, or eaten by the circling birds, Raechel and Brittaney sprung into action. After uttering only a few “Ewww!” or “Yuck! Slimy!” the girls went about relocating the hapless worms to higher, drier earthen ground.

All told, they saved the lives of at least fifty worms before exhaustion (or boredom…) set in. Sure, there were a few unfortunate mistakes made by the rescuers, such as the time Raechel picked up a particularly huge worm, and her evil father said it was not a worm, but a baby snake, only to see said worm flung through the air and splash a good five feet from the newly formed shore after a high-pitched girly shriek. But in the end, as we all know, you cannot make omelets without breaking some eggs. Or something to that effect.

(Anyone wanting a full-sized picture from above, email me and I can email it to you.)