In Eastern Iowa, the City That ‘Would Never Flood’ Goes 12 Feet Under

[Pirate Smile]

Source: New York Times


Volunteers placing sandbags along a road Thursday in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. About 8,000 people had evacuated their homes, and 5,500 were without electricity.

By CHRISTOPHER MAAG
Published: June 13, 2008

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — They said this city would never flood. They talked about 1993, and 1966 and 1851, years when the Cedar River swelled and hissed but mostly stayed within its banks. They thought they were safe. They were wrong.

Cedar Rapids is experiencing the worst flooding in the city’s history. And the water is still rising. By Thursday afternoon, the Cedar River was about 29 feet deep, or 17 feet above flood stage, according to the National Weather Service. The water was expected to rise another three feet by Friday morning, and reach a record crest, 12 feet higher than the previous record, set in 1851.

“Usually if you break a record, you only do it by an inch or two,” said Jeff Zogg, a hydrologist for the Weather Service in Davenport, Iowa. “But breaking it by six feet? That’s pretty amazing.”

-snip-
Demenick Ankum drove to his house on 19th Avenue to save anything he could. By the time he finished packing, his car was underwater. He had to pay a neighbor, Louie Brundidge, $10 to rescue him from the house in Mr. Brundidge’s red aluminum boat.
All that Mr. Ankum could carry with him was one blue plastic tub of clothes and a few framed photos of his children. Everything else was gone.
“I never even thought about flood insurance,” said Mr. Ankum, 33. “They said this place would never flood in 500 years.”




Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/13/us/13flood.html

---

Photo's at the local paper's site - headline - No Longer An Island - http://www.gazetteonline.com/

[skooooo]

1. I don't remember seeing anything like this before...

..especially a flood affecting such a relatively large population center.

[global1]

15. How Quick We Forget .......

how about New Orleans.

Bush is really racking up a record of lost cities during his terms.

[joeglow3]

26. How do they compare?

There clearly has not been the mobs of people, dead, etc. in Cedar Rapids. Was New Orleans that much worse (it does not appear so)? Is Cedar Rapids better prepared (I would hope not since they are not under sea level)?

[skooooo]

35. Yes of course....

I guess I was thinking of the midwest and flooding from rain...

[uppityperson]

37. Red River and Grand Forks 1997

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_River_Flood,_1997


Yes, this is a big flood going on now, really big. I remember the Grand Forks one 11 yrs ago also.

[fishwax]

2. best thoughts to those in Iowa

I always liked CR--sounds like things will get worse in Iowa before it gets better :(

[CoffeeCat]

4. Cedar Rapids just had another heavy storm....

...move through the area. In fact, most of the rain is moving through.

It looks like they just got another inch or two of rain. Really bad news.

This is very serious stuff. 80 of Iowa's 99 counties have been declared disaster
areas. Cedar Rapids has been hit the worst. They've got 6-7 feet of water in
the downtown area. The Cedar River bisects Cedar Rapids, and three roads run through
the city--right over the Cedar River. All of those roads are completely flooded.

They evacuated 100 city blocks.

Cedar Rapids has a population of about 150,000. This is not a small town. This
is a real crisis here, especially with the large amount of rain that just fell.

They are also in a crisis with their water. The local water company has said that
they are running at 25 percent, due to problems caused by the flooding. They're
asking people to not flush toilets, run dishwashers or wash clothes and only use
water to drink. However, people are probably panicking and filling up containers
full of water--anticipating no water.

It's likely that this city will have no water.

If anyone wants more information, go to www.gazetteonline.com There are plenty of
photos, articles and each article has a comments section, and many of the locals are
discussing the flood.

[Shoelace]

6. live feed w/videos, news for Cedar Rapids, surrounding areas

here:
http://www.kcrg.com/
Click on "Watch KCRG NEWS Live"

They just showed baseball sized hail that hit parts of the area this evening, like they needed that! Prayers to all, it's surely going to be THE historical storm.

[gateley]

3. You're in our hearts!! nt

[Bobbieo]

5. Yes, you all are in our hearts and prayers!!! Please

boil your drinking water -

[rwheeler31]

8. How do you boil when you have no juice?

[Bobbieo]

10. That is true - And coming from someone who is in the midst of

an umpteen year drought. You just don't think of things like this!!!!
Boiling water ----

What the hell has happened to our beautiful country????

[dipsydoodle]

17. Whatever you'd use

if you went fishing I guess unless you've got a portable generator. The former would probably make more sense.

Fresh water itself is probably the main issue. Looks to be on a larger scale with our last batch of flooding in Tewkesbury 2007. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5VTqgjiRk0 Free bottled water had to be delivered to a very wide area for some weeks.

[alphafemale]

7. 500 year flood. That probably means that very, very few if any of them had flood insurance.

How awful. And when was the last day without a tornado on the ground...somewhere?

[librarycard]

19. As if State Farm would be there if they had insurance

(Farmers is just as bad)

[laylah]

23. For the record...

Farmers SUCKS! Had flooding here in Quad Cities area in April. My sump pump failed, killing furnace, floors ruined, etc. They would not cover damages 'cuz I didn't have "failure of sewers and drains" coverage. Bastards. So here I sit with rotting subfloors, ruined carpet, crumbling foundation. Found a great website about them www.famersinsurancesucks.com. Great (sad) stories there, some making my problem sound like a walk in the park. I have since changed companies.

[joeglow3]

27. A large chunk of it is in a flood plane.

Thus, no flood insurance.

[galledgoblin]

38. 500 year flood planes cannot be insured?

sheeez... I can understand if residents didn't have insurance because it was unlikely to flood in their lifetimes, but not that the insurance companies wouldn't cover them because there was the ever so slight possibility that they might have to actually pay out to customers eventually.

[pokercat999]

42. I thought flood insurance was a federal program (or at

least underwritten by the feds) and anyone could get it. My understanding was there are varying rates for your exposure and that living in a 500 year flood plain it would be very cheap.

Am I wrong?

[Shoelace]

9. Mercy Hospital now evacuating patients (Cedar Rapids)

176 patients, going to evac them to Iowa City. This from KCRG LIVE FEED, just now happening (9:30pm, PDT). They are at least 8 blocks away from the river so that shows you how bad it is. This was not in an evac area.
http://www.kcrg.com/

For patient info call: 310 398 6106

[Connonym]

16. I was born in that hospital

Haven't lived in CR for eons but I've always identified myself as an Iowan. I've been watching the coverage of this with a heavy heart.

[Oldtimeralso]

11. That's mighty neighborly of him

"He had to pay a neighbor, Louie Brundidge, $10 to rescue him from the house in Mr. Brundidge’s red aluminum boat."
I
O we the
W orld an
A pology

[HDPaulG]

12. Had to pay a neighbor?

Must be related to Dick Cheney...

[joeglow3]

I am glad they gave his neighbor's name. This will take care of itself now.

[joeglow3]

28. I am glad they gave his neighbor's name. This will take care of itself now.

[pokercat999]

43. Let's hope the news is wrong and he just gave his

neighbor $10 to cover his gas or something.

[pansypoo53219]

13. how's clinton iowa?

i did 2 art fairs by the levee there. cute little place. very special to me.

[Hardrada]

14. The eastern edge of Iowa is doing OK.

The Mississippi might do a bit of flooding in Davenport though.

[librarycard]

18. I wonder if all this bad US weather will prevent a US attack on Iran

since we gots too many problems of our own to be going to war against another country....reminds me of the major snow storm that hit Russia as the Germans had Leningrad surrounded but couldn't advance.

If there is to be a "bright" side to the record-breaking weather pattern....

[Make7]

20. Record river levels in Iowa City and Des Moines also.

The Iowa River at Iowa City has surpassed the record level set in 1993. This is also true of the Des Moines River at Des Moines.




graphs from US Army Corps of Engineers

-Make7

[RayOfHope]

21. Glad he's safe, but he had to pay a neighbor $10 to resuce him? WTH is wrong

with people? This is not the time to be making a buck off other people. Christ!

[newfie11]

22. His neighbor charged him $10 to give him a ride in his boat. Boy now that's neighborly.

[TwilightGardener]

25. That's odd behavior for the Midwest. My husband once got both our

truck, and the camper it was towing, totally stuck in mud on an unimproved road about 10 miles from our Nebraska town, and folks (strangers) from 2 nearby farms drove us home that night and came out with tractors and pulled out our vehicles the next day--and refused any money for spending 3 hours on a Saturday morning doing it. (We mailed them gift certificates as a thank you.) If you ever have to be in a jam anywhere, best to do it in Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, South Dakota--someone will always help you out.

[newfie11]

33. As someone from SD/NE all I have to say is

YOU BET we will!!:hi:

[KamaAina]

36. Louie Brundidge. Today's Worst. Person. In The World!!!

You out there, Keith? :hi:

[melissinha]

24. My thoughts are with Iowans this week

Seems like the flooding is going downriver, the flooding worsens as the water flows south and of course additional rains don't help... My family saw it up north and now it continues... Watch out Quad Cities!!

I really hope FEMA and insurance companies bone up this time!!!

I miss Iowa.. I hope the best for you all!! :cry: :grouphug:

[Tashca]

29. Beyond 500 year levels

As of last night this has moved beyond 500 year levels. The city has contingency plans for 100 year floods and 500 year.....but nothing like this.
Mercy hospital was beyond the farthest level.....It has been cleared out with the most serious patients sent to St. Luke's and the University of Iowa hospitals.....less serious to Des Moines and Davenport....and the least serious sent home.

[riverdeep]

30. Feel for them.

What is going on with this week's weather? It's like everything went crazy. Snows in Washington, fires in SoCal, floods and tornadoes and hail in the Midwest (a tornado passed about half mile from me, ripping the roof off of apartments and townhouses, killing power for a day), stifling heat in the East. And is the South still in a drought? Just nuts.

[ensho]

31. this is a huge disaster. a huge people problem like N.O.

like an entire city has had to flee and can't come back until the water goes down.

will anything be working when they get back? the questions are endless.

however, looking at N.O., the people of Cedar Rapids must surely be afraid.

[petersjo02]

32. Not to worry...

The FEMA guy is coming in to CR-IC area today. :sarcasm:

[joeglow3]

34. The Cedar Rapids folk should be damn proud

I have family that lives there and it is amazing the number of people that have been working together for days to try and minimize damage. They are all going out of their way to help each other out (with exceptions like the D bag in the article). Some things that seemed to be clearly lacking in New Orleans.

[shanti]

39. we here in the sacramento valley

are afraid of our own 100-year flood. lots of levees and BIG rivers here :scared: nobody is safe anymore!

[KakistocracyHater]

40. someone call Arnie

what is Iowa doing with California's water? Clearly they have stolen it, which explains the statewaide drought that the governator had to announce. Send out the water trucks with vacuum hoses! :sarcasm:

[gasperc]

41. the future on Global warming

floods are getting worse, alot worse