DAVENPORT, Iowa – Businesses and homeowners are busy making flood preparation – again – and people are simply exhausted.
For the past three months, the Mississippi River can’t seem to make up it’s mind. One day it’s cresting, the next it’s at major flood stage, and business owners are feeling the fatigue as they prepare once again.
Dark black storm clouds rolling through downtown Davenport is the last thing flood victims need to see.
“It’s kind of surreal,” says Scott Naumann, food distributor for Bud’s Skyline Riverview Restaurant. “We are all looking at these river forecasts and thinking ‘can it be?’ ‘How is that possible?’”
It’s déjà vu for Naumann and his friend Dave Churchill who have been sandbagging outside Bud’s all Tuesday morning. They say exhaustion is kicking in.
“That was my fear that people would have 'flood fatigue',” says Naumann.
People at Bootleg Hill Honey Meads are sprucing up before opening in the next few days. After weeks of repairs they agree and say they are worn out.
“We didn’t really sleep a lot because we were here the whole time running the generators and pumps and all that,” says Bill Harris, an employee at Bootleg Hill.
They’re feeling the “flood fatigue” even though it’s not a technical diagnosis.
As Dr. Carl Vincent, a psychologist at Southpark Psychology, points out, it can trigger stress or anxiety disorders.
“In this case, I have been flooded out of my home, I have no history of psychiatric problems, so what has happened to me?” Vincent explains. “Well, I could suffer anxiety, fear, worry, insomnia, feeling very drained.”
“The capacity of people to take off work and give extra hours of time, they are pretty much tapped out on that,” says Naumann.
No matter how many dark days Mother Nature or the Mississippi throws their way, they’ll keep rolling with the punches.
“I don’t see any alternative, that’s what it’s all about,” says Naumann.
With heavy rain expected overnight into Wednesday and off and on throughout the week, people in the Quad Cities won’t be catching a break from water anytime soon.
“Flood Fatigue” may not be a technical term, but if you have symptoms of depression for six months or more it could be a different disorder or clinical depression and people are advised to talk with a doctor.
