Iowans scramble to battle 2nd-worst floods in history

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — Cedar Rapids residents spent Sunday stacking sandbags and moving valuables to higher ground as the city prepares for what is expected to be the second-worst round of flooding in its history.

The Cedar River crested Saturday night in Waterloo and Cedar Falls, which are about 55 miles upstream from Cedar Rapids. Water levels in those two cities were slightly lower than had been expected, but they still reached levels that were second only to the 2008 flood that devastated the region.

Cedar Rapids authorities asked residents of about 5,000 homes along the river to evacuate by Sunday evening. They didn’t order people to leave, but they heavily encouraged them to do so. Fire officials said they would ask for the names of next of kin from those who said they didn’t want to leave the area.

Study: Flooding on the rise in Midwest

“That helps hit it home,” Fire Chief Mark English said during a Sunday morning news conference.

Sunday afternoon, residents gave a mixed response to the voluntary evacuation. Many planned to be out before the 8 p.m. curfew took effect. But some planned to remain in their homes for the time being.

“We’ll stay until they won’t let us stay anymore, because this is where we live,” said Kim Hastings, who lives a few blocks west of the Cedar River.

Hastings bought her modest, gray house last year. She wasn’t in Cedar Rapids when the 2008 floods hit, but she was optimistic this year’s floodwaters won’t reach her street. About 30 friends helped build a vast sandbag ring around her house and a neighbor’s this weekend

The National Weather Service revised down its river forecast for Cedar Rapids from earlier projections. It predicts the river will reach a crest of 23 feet Tuesday morning.

“If everything goes as projected, we’ll be moving a whole bunch of dry sandbags — and we’d be OK with that,” Hastings said.

A couple of blocks away, Teri Hegland was getting ready to leave her neighborhood and stay with a friend.

“There’s no reason to take chances,” she said.

She’s lived in her home for 20 years, and she remembers how the 2008 flood filled her basement and about a foot of her first floor. This time, she and her family and friends brought everything up from the basement, including the furnace and washer and dryer. She put her cat on the second floor with plenty of food and water.

Hegland had heard the new crest projections, which could mean her block will be spared from the flooding. But she evacuated last time, and she’s doing it again.

“Some people are stupid, but I’m not,” she said.

Jen Winter, Cedar Rapids public works director, cautioned that despite the revised flood projection of 23 feet, “this is still a major flood event” and floodwaters may still seep out of areas where steps have been taken to hold back the water.

Preparation time making a difference 

In Vinton, a Benton County community about 35 miles northwest of Cedar Rapids, the river rose dramatically Sunday, up nearly 6 feet in a 24-hour period ending at 5 p.m. Iowa Highway 150 was closed in both directions between U.S. Highway 218 and County Road E16,  according to the Iowa Department of Transportation.

The river was scheduled to crest in Vinton on Monday morning at 21.5 feet, which is below the 2008 record of 24.6 feet.

Cedar Rapids Mayor Ron Corbett said that city officials learned Wednesday that they had four days to react to the flood, and he praised residents for taking ownership of their community in the flood fight.

“This is the last day to get all the work done that needs to be done, and people have been working very hard,” Corbett said. “I know that there have to be a lot of sore backs and sore arms and shoulders for all the work that has been done. It was citywide, really.”

Cedar Rapids City Manager Jeff Pomeranz said that the city has been preparing to deal with a major flood since the 2008 flood, and that these preparations should help.

“All this work is coming together. You can see the benefits of planning and preparation in the various streets and infrastructure improvements and the protection systems in order to make sure that our city is safe,” Pomeranz said. “That could not have happened without tremendous preparation by our city, our county government, our private sector and most importantly our citizens.”

Corbett also said that all areas of Cedar Rapids are the subject of efforts to establish flood defense, unlike plans for flood control developed by federal officials that only would have protected the east side of the river.

Police Chief Wayne Jerman said a curfew will be imposed from 8 p.m. Sunday until 7 a.m. Monday and police officers will patrol flood-affected areas. He said 300 to 400 Iowa National Guard troops will be assisting police and 60 additional sworn law enforcement officers will be arriving to assist Cedar Rapids police with their operations.

Officials said that as of Sunday morning, no looting had been reported and that National Guard troops who assist law enforcement officers will not be armed.

Cedar Falls, Waterloo wait for water to recede

In the Waterloo and Cedar Falls area, where the Cedar River crested Saturday morning, local officials are keeping their fingers crossed that flood damage will be significantly less than the devastation experienced in the 2008 flooding.

“I am so proud of the towns we have here,” said Black Hawk County Emergency Management Coordinator Lorie Glover. “Waterloo, Cedar Falls, Evansdale and some of the others were extremely proactive — two and three days ahead of the flood, using lessons learned from 2008. They did a phenomenal job.”

The river peaked Saturday in Waterloo at 22.65 feet, which was well above flood stage of 13 feet, but less than the 2008 record crest of 27 feet.

The river had fallen to 22.3 feet by late Sunday morning. It is projected to continue dropping slowly in the coming days until it falls below flood stage on Thursday.

“We do have pockets of damage in some areas that we will be looking at, but the water is still very high,” Glover said. “We need to wait until it goes down a little bit before we can get into some areas to look at what damage there will be.”

Local residents “sandbagged and sandbagged” around businesses in an effort to mitigate flood damage, so damage totals to businesses aren’t clear yet. Glover said she already knows that some residents have water in their basements and some houses may have water on the first floor, but she can’t get a better idea until flooding recedes.

However, it appears there has not been any catastrophic damage in Black Hawk County, unlike in 2008, when a railroad bridge collapsed in downtown Waterloo under enormous pressure from the swollen Cedar River.

“This time the bridge was battered pretty good by the water, but it has held up and it is doing well,” Glover said.

Volunteers begin cleanup efforts

In Shell Rock and Greene, both Butler County communities on the Shell Rock River, big cleanup efforts were underway on Sunday.

Shell Rock City Council member Benjamin DeWitt estimated 45 houses had flood damage. Most of the problems were in basements because of excessive water and because of sewer backups that he described as “kind of nasty.” His house was among those affected.

The river crested late Friday in Shell Rock at 21.37 feet, which was higher than the 2008 record stage of 20.36 feet. It had fallen to 15.4 feet by Sunday afternoon and is forecast to drop below flood stage of 13.5 feet on Tuesday.

In Greene, Mayor Pro Tem Allan Zweck said there was widespread damage, particularly to houses with water and sewage in basements. His house was also included in the mess.

Quite a few businesses in Greene were damaged, but the situation would have been worse without help from first responders and other volunteers who helped with sandbagging, Zweck said.

“The response was overwhelming and it saved damage on our Main Street. It saved damage to some other parts of town, but we couldn’t save everything,” Zweck said.

In Clarksville, a city of about 1,400 people about 30 miles northwest of Waterloo, a common sight on Sunday was local residents and area football players hauling wet carpet and wet couches out of flood-damaged homes.

About 100 houses had either water in the basement or water inside the house, said Clarkville City Council member Diane Renning. 

The town’s drinking water is safe for consumption, but Renning said residents were asked to limit their water use. 

“The water is going down, but it is messy here,” Renning said.

Contributing: The Associated Press. Follow William Petroski and Tony Leys on Twitter: @WilliamPetroski and @tonyleys