Six inches of rain in one night is an extremely rare occurrence in the upper Midwest. It is always followed by flooding the severity of which depends on the dryness of the soil. Some places in northern Iowa received double that amount in one night. Others received two six-inch deluges in three nights with substantial rains in between. These storms extended into south central Wisconsin. The result was predictable but the extremity was not. The larger rivers that empty into the Missippippi River in Iowa begin in southern Minnesota. The three largest are the Des Moines, The Iowa, and the Cedar. These rivers flow mostly through the undulating prairies forming seemingly endless cornfields that most people associate with the state. In the northwestern quarter of Iowa the land is actually quite hilly as some of you RAGBRAI riders (a large week-long bike tour) know. The Northern most of the affected rivers was a spring fed stream favored with river runners and kayaks called the Upper Iowa. This river flows nearly due East along the Iowa, Minnesota border. It flows through only one fairly large community call Decorah, (pop. 8,172) the seat of Winneshiek county and home to Luther College. Decorah was hit almost immediately. The river usually flows at between 3 and four feet, perfect for canoeing. On June 9 th it flowed at 18 feet at least 4 feet over the previous flood record of 1993. Two nursing homes were evacuated and all highways coming into town from the south were closed. The next river Basin to the south was the Turkey River. It also has a large following among river runners and kayaks and flows through the picturesque city of Elkader, the seat of Clayton County. The water peaked at 31 feet! 9 feet above the 12 feet flood stage, again 4 feet higher than the previous record. The next was the Maquoketa River. It broke records in Manchester on June 9 and Maquoketa on June 11 and again on June 14. On the Wapsapinican River it was Independence, Anamosa and De Witt, all county seats. The story was always the same, record flooding many feet higher than anything previously experienced and consequently planned for. Everywhere destruction, business damaged, homes destroyed and lives in turmoil, but no loss of life. By now the larger river basins had begun filling. The Cedar threads it's way through the cities of Charles City, Cedar Falls, Waterloo, and Cedar Rapids. Charles City had its crest June 9 and again on the 13 th but slightly below its record. But the Shell Rock River disgorged its own flood into the Cedar and the water that reached the adjacent cities of Waterloo and Cedar Falls was like nothing previously experienced. The river crested in Waterloo at just over 25 feet the previous record was 21.86 feet and flood stage was 12. All the major banks in Waterloo, U.S., Wells Fargo, and Regions as well as some of the community banks were flooded to some extent (VGM Leasing and Rabo AgriFinance were not directly affected). Waterloo lost its main railroad bridge but determined sandbagging efforts kept damage in both cities to a less than the complete disaster it could have been. The torrent then was making its way to my home city of Cedar Rapids. We knew it would be bad, but no one was prepared for what happened. At first the projection was for a crest of 22 feet. Flood stage was 12 and the previous record (set in 1961) was 20 feet. It was termed a hundred year flood, just as it had been in 1993. So we knew we had to raise our precautions a couple of feet. Within a couple of days it was obvious that these projections were too optimistic and it were raised to 24.5 feet. That had everybody's attention. This would indeed be a big one but a little more effort and things should hold together. The next day we were already at flood stage and the projection went to 26.5 and then 28.5 nearly immediately after that. The sandbagging already done had been futile! New perimeters were drawn and talk of a 500-year flood was bandied about. 500 years ago the only people here were the Mesquakie Indians. No one knew quite what to do, and it was coming fast. The next day the projection went to 32 feet. They had to evacuate the evacuation center at Roosevelt school since it was now in peril! Organized efforts were now down to trying to save particular businesses, but it seemed like nothing worked. Many Businesses' sandbagged only to watch the river run over their work minutes later. The emergency call for help to sandbag the Mercy Hospital Saturday June 12 at midnight as it too was had to be evacuated it was the absolute low point. Many of the volunteers were just finishing sandbagging around the last remaining water well furnishing water to Cedar Rapids (pop. 124,417) when the Hospital call went out and went directly there. The saving of the well seemed to be the only victory over the river. The river crested at just below 31 feet on Sunday June 13. More than 20,000 people, approximately 20%, of the population had been evacuated from their homes in Cedar Rapids alone. The destruction of infrastructure is usually a pretty good indicator of the severity of a disaster. Electricity and gas were shut off in the areas flooded so even if your business was dry it was impossible to operate in the flooded area. Water was only 20% of preflood capacity. Rationing was imposed so that it was limited to drinking only. Farther downstream the Cedar flooded over Interstate 80 and halted traffic on the nations busiest highway! Flooded buildings included the City Hall, Police headquarters. Fire Headquarters, Sheriffs office, Main Post Office, Federal and state courthouses, School district headquarters, and the Main public library besides one of the two Hospitals. The headquarters for Alliant Energy was flooded. The main U.S., and Wells Fargo Bank buildings and several smaller community banks were flooded. Many large businesses were flooded or unable to conduct business (Great America Leasing is several floors above the flooding and operating from its offices in other states). The summer volume of the Cedar River at Cedar Rapids averages below 20,000 Cubic feet per second, at the crest it was estimated to be running at 175,000 CFS. Many people think Iowa City is down stream from Cedar Rapids. In Fact, While being south of here it is actually on a different river, the Iowa. A couple miles upstream fro Iowa City is the Coralville dam. It was built in the 50's as a flood control project to help contain the Iowa. When a flood control dam fills up the control aspects of its existence vanish. That's what happened and is still happening to Iowa City. It became obvious to the Army Corps of Engineers that floods upstream in Marshalltown and other cities along the Iowa were soon going to outstrip the abilities of the reservoir to serve it's flood control function. Too late but several days before the floods overwhelmed the reservoir, the Corps of Engineers opened their release gates and began to increase the outflow right to the brink of flooding in Iowa City. They also warned the city that the river was expected to overtop the emergency spillway and at that time Iowa City was at the mercy of nature. This gave the city and the University of Iowa about 5 days to prepare for an unprecedented disaster. As the water in the reservoir went up the Corps would open the gates more each day to let more out of the Dam in an effort to postpone their loss of control. That loss came on June 11 when the water reached 712 feet above sea level. It continued rising until June 16 when there was 4.5 feet of water going over the spillway alone. Then it began to recede. Herein lies the predicament. The reservoir was built to store excessive water so floods would not happen. In situations like this, the reservoir itself prolongs the agony because of the massive amounts of water detained. The overflow and hence the flooding is expected to continue for some time. The Corps of Engineers expects to keep release gates at flood flow levels until the lake drains to the point that similar weather cannot force a repeat of this disaster in the near future. Then the Army Corps of Engineers feels it has regained a margin of control. In 1993 that took 3 months! That's right, the flooding in Iowa City is expected to last the rest of the summer, although not at the current record levels. The water is still going over the emergency spillway and is not expected to decrease to that level until late June. The Corps of Engineers will continue to allow prodigious amounts of water out of its gates for weeks to draw the level down so another deluge does not have the same effect. As in Cedar Rapids the damage extended to many more residences than the 1993 disaster, particularly in private residences. Many residences have been evacuated not because of threat to life and property simply because the roads leading to their homes were impassable. Given the constantly upgrading forecasts in crest height no one was interested in having people cut off if things worsened. The affect to Iowa City and its adjacent city of Coralville was bad but paled in comparison to the disaster affecting The University of Iowa . Outside of the evacuated area there were inconveniences of closed roads etc., but the other infrastructure facilities and headquarters of the major services were high and dry. At the University of Iowa it was a different story. The Iowa River dissects the University along its North-South flow through the City. The East side of the campus houses the administrative offices, The colleges of Liberal Arts, Education, Engineering, Business and the schools of Library Science and Communications. The West side houses the Sports facilities, Law School, All Arts including performing arts, and the medical colleges of Nursing, Dental, and Pharmacy as well the medical school itself and the expansive Hospitals and clinics. This would have completely devastated the arts campus but for the lead-time they had to prepare. The Artwork was moved from the art museum. Valuable instruments, particularly Pianos were relocated to higher ground. Costumes, sets etc. were all placed out of harms way. The same was true at the library were priceless manuscripts were moved and the books were all stashed safely before the flood came. The flooding to the campus was inconceivable. Every building on the arts campus was flooded. The auditorium had water over the stage. The university power plant flooded but the local utility picked up the slack for the pumps that were operating. Among the buildings affected were; Closed major buildings (buildings are locked down and no entry is allowed) Pictures of the flooding are available at; http://www.flickr.com/photos/uinews/sets/72157605682402874/ NOW WHAT! The rivers in the rest of eastern Iowa have receded below flood stage with the exception of Iowa City. Most businesses and homeowners do not have flood insurance, which, by the way, covers only the structure, not the contents. Most of the counties in Iowa have been declared Disaster areas so FEMA is here and is taking applications for those homeowner affected. They tell us that FEMA learned a lot and is a lot more efficient that it was for Hurricane Katrina. We'll see! The limit for outright cash assistance from FEMA is $28,000. Disaster recovery loans will be offered through the SBA for both business and personal recovery loans. The limits there are rumored to be $200,000. The biggest losses may be suffered from the farms. Millions of acres of cornfields were overrun with water ruining the crop. It is now too late in the season to replant with any hopes of a productive yield. Soybeans can still be planted this late but their yields will also suffer. More on this subject will be coming as I learn about how people are dealing with this in my next installment. On a personal note, the water tower behind my house is built on the highest point in Cedar Rapids. That makes my house one of the highest in town also! The tower is about 100 yards away and in almost every electrical storm it gets hit by lightning. Many a night I have been suddenly awakened by a very loud thunderclap and bright Lightning. I cursed my choice of domicile many times while trying to fall back to sleep. No more! This is my third Once-in-a-lifetime-flood. I grew up in Dubuque, Iowa and sandbagged during the 1965 flood that still holds the record by a wide margin in that city. My father was the Asst. Fire Chief there and I can remember him telling me to take a good look because “You'll never see anything like this again”. I was here for the 1993 floods and remember thinking of my father's words as I rode down I-380 and saw nothing but water where cornfields should have been. The destruction of this one to the City of Cedar Rapids and to the University of Iowa have me hoping that absolutely I never want to see anything like this again. J.P. (Jake) Kemps |