Home.
It’s pretty weird what’s going on in Eastern Iowa right now.
By weird, I mean totally effed.
This is what downtown Cedar Rapids looks like.
If you haven’t heard yet, both hospitals have lost power and were evacuated yesterday. More than 100 city blocks are flooded, and over 8,000 people have been forced to move to safer areas.
Many of us in Iowa City have spent that last few days simply evacuating University of Iowa buildings. Its expected that the Iowa river won’t crest until the middle of next week. Most aren’t expecting to return to their buildings until mid-August.
A lot of us grew up in Cedar Rapids. I was born there.
Weird days.
Joel wrote:
Oh my god, I had no idea this was happening!
Did the river just flood really bad? I don’t know anything about this.
Posted on 13-Jun-08 at 10:57 am | Permalink
Katie (Jones) wrote:
Yeah, the river just flooded really badly. A big flood happened in 1993 but Cedar Rapids wasn’t hit that hard by it and when flooding first started to occur I think a lot of people assumed it’d be sort of a repeat of that flood, but this flood is much worse (a “1 in 500 years flood” whereas ’93 was a “1 in 100 years flood”) and Cedar Rapids was hit incredibly hard. Once the Cedar River spilled over its banks, it just stretched way further than they thought. Up to the 900 block even, and still rising. Coralville has been hit really hard too, with Clear Creek flooding. Iowa City has been bracing for the inevitable when the Iowa River finally floods over. The worst part is all of these rivers haven’t even crested yet; they’re expecting the levels to keep rising at least until Sunday and to stay awful until later next week, when maybe they will just start the long process of going down.
Also, note about the hospitals: I don’t think St. Luke’s is evacuating yet and it still has generators. By losing power, they just meant they had to go to their generators; it’s not like they were completely out of power. Mercy is evacuating everyone though.
Posted on 13-Jun-08 at 11:44 am | Permalink
Ben wrote:
The Flying Weenie is underwater.
WHERE WILL I GET MY CHILIDOGS NOW!?
Posted on 13-Jun-08 at 2:53 pm | Permalink
Alex wrote:
I had no idea it was so bad. That sucks. Condolences to all the Iowans on Shamby. Reminds me of the Grand Forks floods a decade or so ago.
Posted on 13-Jun-08 at 3:12 pm | Permalink
Evan wrote:
I was watching the news this morning and i distinctly remember the phrase “Katrina-esque.” While all floods are terrible tragedies, I got a little pissy and took it personally. I did, however, wonder how you guys were doing.
Posted on 13-Jun-08 at 3:33 pm | Permalink
Katie (Jones) wrote:
Obviously this flood doesn’t have the same race aspect as Katrina nor has the government abandoned the people of Iowa in the same way, but in terms of historic floods with incredibly devastating impacts that affect thousands of people, I think it could be fair to say this flood is “Katrina-esque.” Not the best way to put it, but no one saw this much damage occuring and 10,000 people have now been evacuated from Cedar Rapids (that’s not even including the evacuations in Coralville, Iowa City, Des Moines, or Waterloo). I was in Cedar Rapids on Wednesday and the river hadn’t bust over its bank yet except in one little area. The photo in Tim’s post is from Thursday. It’s just unreal. The flooding is up past the 900 block since this morning; I’m sure it’s further along now. Iowa City is getting hit this weekend.
Posted on 13-Jun-08 at 3:59 pm | Permalink
patrick wrote:
More good news, it may be months before power returns to Cedar Rapids!
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080613/NEWS/80613026/-1/ENT06
Posted on 13-Jun-08 at 5:17 pm | Permalink
pthompso wrote:
I went downtown yesterday and took some photos. I posted them on my blog at redoak58.blogspot.com.
Good news: the Thompson household is safe and dry up on our hill. I think for a flood to reach us it would have to be Genesis-esque. A once in 6000 years flood.
Also, we have our own well, so we aren’t subject to the water restrictions that the rest of the city is. So if any of you Iowa City folks want to come up and take a shower, you’re welcome to.
Oh yeah, I forgot: YOU CAN’T GET HERE FROM THERE. There is no way to get across the river at this point. The actual official recommendation for getting from Iowa City to Cedar Rapids is “drive to Des Moines”!
one final note: my reCaptcha words that I have to type in to post this are (no kidding) “katherine this”
Posted on 14-Jun-08 at 9:05 am | Permalink
Lindsey wrote:
man… wow. dry up, cedar rapids; albuquerque sends parched hugs and kisses.
Posted on 14-Jun-08 at 11:04 pm | Permalink
Bill wrote:
I wanted to comment earlier, but I didn’t know what to say. I mean, it’s just really awful. I’m really glad that everyone is okay. What happens next though? I’ve only seen pictures during floods, and I don’t know anything about them. How long does it take for the water to… go… away? What kind of steps are necessary to get things back the way they were?
Posted on 15-Jun-08 at 11:44 am | Permalink
Steven wrote:
I get a paid week off…
The Arts Campus is under a lot of water.
Posted on 15-Jun-08 at 5:31 pm | Permalink