We’re still waiting for the crest, which is anticipated on Tuesday. The University of Iowa is shut down and mostly evacuated, and several buildings are filling with water. Hancher Auditorium is flooded, as is the Art Building complex (they moved everything out of the museum), as is (IIRC) the Laser Center (or whatever they’re calling it now) and the Memorial Union. The Main Library is close, but sandbagged pretty well from what I’ve heard. They were talking about closing the Burlington and Benton Street bridges, but so far haven’t. Mayflower residence hall is of course basically a lake.
On a really sad note (to locals and former locals), the Sutliff bridge got destroyed. A local cabin got washed off its foundations and rammed the bridge. 111 years of history (and a local landmark) gone.
Yesterday I heard things about Cedar Rapids, which is a bit north of us: the 1993 flood crest was (I believe) around 19 feet. This flood crested at 32. Mays Island is under water, as was the bridge (but water is dropping there). They reported 437 blocks of the Cedar Rapids area flooded, with 24,000 residents currently homeless.
Anamosa lost their water treatment plant, and now has raw sewage floating freely into peoples’ houses.
They closed I-380 between Cedar Rapids and the Iowa City area, so the official detour that the DOT has issued to get from IC to CR is:
Take I-80 west to I-35.
Take I-35 north to US20.
Take US20 east to I-380.
Take I-380 south to CR.
By my figuring, this makes what would normally be about a 25 mile drive into a 285 mile commute.
It’s time for another heavy duty pump. I hope my brother gets one in Madison. Gas hopefully so it can run without power if needs be. We tried a spare pump we bought a couple days ago and it doesn’t run. :mad: They are keeping people that don’t live here off the road finally.
My brother was out and about a lot on Friday and Saturday for work (he repairs elevators). He said the roads were completely nuts, but it was all Flatlanders (Illinois people, for the uninformed). We (in Wis.) were specifically, pointedly told Friday that UNLESS YOU ABSOLUTELY HAD TO BE OUT, STAY HOME!!!
I didn’t even know it was Father’s Day today, until late last night. My brother brought 2 remote boats, but we only got in about 5 minutes of fun until we had to do stuff. The neighbor that we don’t like because of garbage and other issues started using a gas powered pump. Mother had to tell him to move the gas away from the pump. He went to move the gas and the pump exhaust was melting his canoe. :rolleyes:
No, other than changing dinner plans I’ve been pretty unaffected. My commute is open and I pretty much spent Friday and Saturday (my days off) enjoying a few libations and then sleeping them off.
He took the bus up from Chicago which goes via Milwaukee. If he’d have planned for a day later he’d have been trapped by the closed westbound highway in between there and here. As it was his bus on Friday back to Chicago was the only one running.
Ee-yow, that’s like halfway to the Wisconsin border if I’m remembering my last visit to Iowa. Speaking of which, my mother has filled every container in the house with drinking water in case the water goes out. The first year she lived in Des Moines was 1993 and she and my dad went something like seven weeks without utilities. My brother told her to fill up a bathtub.
Some better news tonight: They’re saying that the Coralville Resivoir has crested earlier than expected, so the water in Iowa City should stay steady and start falling soon. They gave sandbaggers in Coralville the day off today, and IC might give them tomorrow off. We are still under a cerfew here: no-one within 100 yards of any property affected by the flood between 8:30 pm and 6:00 am.
Downstream, Columbus Junction was evacuated, as it is just below where the Cedar and Iowa rivers meet. Not long after, the levee breached and flooded the town. It’s crest isn’t expected until Monday.
Local coverage for those who are interested:
Actually, Minnesota…but yeah, it gets way up there. I’m making US20 a bit over 40 miles north of Cedar Rapids. Iowa City is about 25ish miles south of CR.
Another silver lining in all this: I have heard at last report that there has only been ONE reported death so far. That’s something, anyway. One too many, of course; but a lot better than more.
Sorry for the double post, but I forgot to address this:
The last I heard (late this afternoon) was that their capacity had been at 25% earlier, but it was now back up to 50%. They are still rationing up there, though; limiting non-drinking water usage to alternate days. So it’s getting better, anyway…somewhat.
Iowa City hasn’t reported any problems with our water yet, so the sandbagging of the treatment plant must be doing its job.
The water rise of about 2 inches at the house yesterday, was down 2 inches by this morning leaving us at the level where the flood seems to want to stay at without more rain. Hopefully the next three days will be very little rain as forecast. The Thursday and Friday has a prediction of rain.
The highway in front of the house has been one lane for a few days already. there was occasional dumb asses going normal highway speeds and then having to goo through the water at full speed or head on a vehicle in the dry lane. I surprised nobody died in front of us in the last two days. The Fox river bridge was closed twice in the last two days. Yesterday they made a serious effort to stop vacationers from being on the city roads. All the highway and interstate traffic was going on highway 16 through the Portage construction. I’d like to quote a friend O’Neill “It was like trying to put an elephant through a straw.”
This is good. Sorry we can’t give you a tetanus shot because we don’t know you’re medical history. What the fuck. I’ve been in bad conditions, give me a shot.
I got a tetanus shot at the county health services. They won’t be here after noon. None of the the regular medical facilities would give a tetanus shot to me, because I wasn’t a regular patient. It’s a natural disaster assholes, and I’ve been in flood waters for about 9 days. :mad:
People are driving up to the stop signs at 55 miles per hour and slamming on their brakes or running it. The one lane requires taking turns, and I know somebody is going to be killed. Twice already a semi has almost smashed head on into a passenger vehicle. I’m calling up the sheriff now to tell them the problem.
*Levee funding not fast enough to save Iowa neighborhoods
An earthen levee that failed over the weekend, flooding several neighborhoods on the north side of Des Moines, Iowa, had long been identified as the weak link in the city’s flood-control system. The Army Corps of Engineers was awaiting some $12 million in congressional funding for a new 14-foot, 2.6-mile levee to replace a 1950s-era barrier that already had failed several times. The Des Moines Register (Iowa) (6/15)*
I can’t think of anything useful to say. Glad to hear you (finally) got your shot, HD, and hopefully the sherrif’s dept. will put a stop to the asshole drivers.
The water is down 5 inches from the highest point. Now to get rid of 3 more feet if I’m estimating right from submerged items. It needs to drop more than 3 feet to not flood the first rain again. In practical terms I hope the rain holds off until we get another foot drop in water, so the house has a buffer for the next storms at the end of the week. Without anymore flooding the house has damage, and probably the flooded garage.
The flood is down about 8 inches from it’s peak and the hwy is not covered any longer. The mosquitoes have been increasing for two days. I hope somebody in this town has the sense to spray all this standing water, before the first major hatching occurs. The highest part of the sidewalk is exposed, giving me a luxurious 4 by 6 foot piece of solid dry ground to stand on. I can’t wait to be able to wear clothes from the house to the the road and not have to change in the car. The water halted a foot or less from ruining the main floor of all the houses in the neighborhood. I hope the end of the week rains don’t come in so intense. I said no more garden pics, but I might post the remains of what there was. I’m going to get to catch up on my sleep some. Yeh!
Somebody can feel free to post how Iowa is doing, because I’m not able to spend the time to look around.
This morning I used a tape measure to see what the drop is. The flood is down 9.5 inches. Even if I could use my hands for grasping anymore FEMA will take 7 to 10 days to look, and we can’t clean till then. I tested the pressure washer on various surfaces, and after cleaning they will all have to be painted. All The flood stains are permanent. I sprayed detergent with the pressure washer yesterday to break up the oil slick that had drifted in. Just posting so I know you’re still there is nice. Thanks people.
I’m so sorry that this flood has been a huge pain in your (and many others’) ass, but I’m very glad that it wasn’t worse. Thank you for continuing to post and let us know you are okay. If you need anything (besides sleep) let us know and we’ll do what we can to help.