Flood of 2008

The Flood of 2008

I'm setting magic aside for a few moments to record my recollections of the Flood of 2008. You see, I live in the heart of the midwestern United States about 1 hour away from the Mississippi River in a small city called Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Many towns across in Iowa, Illinois and Missouri have been washed away by prolific flooding.

Cedar Rapids is located on the Cedar River but I've never thought of it as a "river town." Those "river towns" are typically towns that line the Mississippi that seem to flood every few years. This year that perception changed in a blink of the eye.

Thursday, June 12, 2008

We were on our way home from a vacation in Orlando when We had heard of the flooding of Waterloo Iowa on CNN and Fox News. Waterloo is another small city north of Cedar Rapids. Because of the emerging disaster in Waterloo, Barak Obama canceled plans to fly into Cedar Rapids for a campaign stop. That seemed to be pretty big news for our little town of 125,000.

Flying into Cedar Rapids, you could see that little streams that meandered through farmer's fields looked like churning, raging rivers. A week of intense spring rains, combined with a winter of record snowfalls had saturated the rich, black farmland and swollen the creeks and rivers.

We quickly learned that of the five bridges spanning the Cedar River, only one remained open. The bridge of Interstate 380 was the sole link between the east and west sides of an Iowa county that held a quarter of a million people. Water was threatening to engulf the remaining bridges. Two railroad bridges were parked with boxcars loaded with rocks in hopes that the added weight would hold the bridges in place. One bridge finally collapsed under the pressure of the raging river.

Traffic was backed up for miles in all directions as the transportation matrix of the city was funneled down to three lanes in both directions. All other bridges were completely submerged. The sight was staggering to behold as we slowly crawled across town on I-380.

Cedar Rapids and Paris, France have something in common; they are the only cities in the world to have their municipal government located on an island in the middle of a river. Driving through Cedar Rapids and seeing the island that contains the city government, county court house and city jail under water was shocking. This is a sight that is unlikely to occur again in my or my children's children's lifetime.

We learned that the previous record high waters crested at around 22 feet. The river would finally crest at 32 feet; smashing the old record. 20,000 people were evacuated. Unlike during Katrina, residents had a little more time to clear out of their homes although many didn't flee immediately because few believe the river would leave it's banks and breach it's levees. By the time the water hit 32 feet, over 420 city blocks would be flooded.

Three of the four city wells were flooded with murky flood water. The city's water supply was in danger of running dry. A water emergency was declared. You could only use water to drink. No showers, no hand washing, no running dishwashers, no washing machines and no flushing toilets. We collected rain water from the brief but intense rain showers that still threatened the area. We could flush the toilets with a couple gallons of rainwater.

Still, the city official angrily denounced any non-essential use of water. Reports of people washing their cars had shown that some people did not fully comprehend the gravity of the disaster. We had stocked the home with bottled water and Diet Coke so we were in good shape for several days. It was quite an adventure for the kids and I think they learned a little about the scarcity of resources and what conservation was all about.

Saturday, June 14, 2008

By Saturday evening, we wanted a brake from the non-stop flood coverage on the television. We decides to see if our favorite Mexican, Villa's Patio, restaurant was open. Sure enough. The restaurant really adapted to the emergency. All food was served on disposable plates and with plastic utensils. Soda pop was served from cans instead of from the fountain dispensers. Hand sanitizer replaced hand washing.

By Sunday morning, the water emergency was slightly downgraded. Homes with even house numbers could use water for limited purposes on even days. And odd homes on odd days.

As the water slowly receded, the depth and breadth of the damage was starting to become clear. Hundreds of families were in shelters. Hundreds of homes were feared destroyed. Hundreds of business were shutdown. The entire downtown area without power. River water containing, sand, silt, fish, dead animals, bacteria, farm chemicals and raw sewage covered hundreds of city blocks.