At noon on Wednesday, June 11, I was sitting in my 11th floor office, three blocks away from the Cedar River, with no idea that we would be affected by the few areas that were being evacuated. Our office building sits on the outside border of the 500 year flood plain zone. At that point, the river was still supposed to crest at 22 feet or so. The previous record, set in 1929, was 20 feet.
Three hours later we were told that all power downtown would be shut off and that we were included within an expanded mandatory evacuation area. At 4pm, I drove home over the only remaining open downtown bridge on 2nd avenue. Just after getting over the bridge, I drove through a block with water just about up to the bottom of my car. The 2nd Ave. bridge was going to be closed at 8pm. They ended up closing it at 6pm, leaving I-380 the only way to get from one side of the river to the other.
On Thursday morning, I was without internet access at home, so unable to get much work done. I received a call from my pastor saying that our church basement had flooded. Our church is nowhere near the river, but that area of town had lost power and the sump pump had stopped working. Normally an 8 minute drive, I was able to make it to the church in about 30 minutes. 15 minutes after I arrived, the power came back on, and several of us were able to get Shop-Vacs going. We had all the water out within a couple of hours. I then received a call from my mom telling me that the city was about to close I-380. I left immediately, was able to get on the interstate, and made it home in about 55 minutes. (They eventually only closed the left lane.)
As I drove over the river on I-380 both on the way to the church and on the way home, I could not believe what I saw. Businesses and homes around the downtown area with water up past their windows. The entire downtown area has turned into a giant lake. The amount of devastation will not be knowable until the water recedes. Certainly many homes, businesses, and historic buildings are going to have significant damage.
On Thursday, we were told that the river would crest at 24.5. By later in the day, the forecast had jumped to 28.5 feet. By evening, the forecast had jumped to 31 feet. As I write this at 9am on Friday, the newest forecast is that the crest will be at 32 feet in about 4 hours. Again, the previous record was 20 feet, in 1929. Nothing like this has even been seen. We are so far beyond the 500 year flood level that nothing like this was ever contemplated.
Our water supply is severely threatened. We have been directed to use water for drinking purposes only, a direction that may last for a couple of weeks. We are unlikely to have power downtown for a week.
Cedar Rapids is just one of many cities and towns in Iowa severely affected by the flooding of varying rivers.
Thankfully, there have been no reports of deaths from the flooding.
Here is some information about the flood:
River's unthinkable rise cripples Cedar Rapids (Rick Smith, The Gazette, 6/13/2008)
Photos of the flood in Cedar Rapids
Aerial view of Cedar Rapids flood from hotel roof:
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