I lived through the Great Flood of 2008, ask me anything!

[bhsup]

Yeah, I remember the 1993 flood. The KC area did indeed survive pretty well, but elsewhere in Missouri and other States it was pretty darned nasty. Oddly, the thing I remember most was the financial aid donated by Luxemburg.

 

[blackheart]

Were you around for the '93 flood? How did that one compare?

Wasn't there so I can't attest personally, but from what people say that were, this one is worst.

How is the community responding to the emergency? Was everyone able to get out of the way in a reasonable amount of time?

In Iowa City we kind of knew it was coming since there is a reservoir/dam/spillway north of us so we didn't get a sudden rush. Other communities weren't so lucky. In Cedar Rapids one or two of the levees broke so some people went to sleep one night and woke up to a foot of water the next morning.

Why didn't you guys loot and pillage like in New Orleans?

Lemme guess, because there are few blacks in Iowa... or because what happened in New Orleans is slightly different?

I would it attribute it to our local governments not being incompetent really.

What parts of Iowa City and Coralville got hit? From what I've seen on the TV, most of IC below the Pentacrest hill is submerged, and parts of highway 6 in Coralville, and of course just about everything along the river.

How bad is the park? That thing's always flooded, regardless.

Iowa City's been having bad luck recently. Too much debauchery -> vengeful God. Maybe we should've said yes to the 21 over ordinance...

Let's just say Mayflower is really the Mayflower now, and the Arts kids will be inhaling some mold next semester, if their buildings open at all. Highway 6 got hit too (the Hyvee in Iowa City and a big chunk in Coralville, the Wal-Mart and Mall were fine). Surprisingly, it never went over the Burlington bridge, but the other bridges besides Benton are closed.

Where are all the people who lost their homes sleeping?

Hotels, motels, relatives, friends, and shelters.

Do you have smaller floods every year?

I can't really attest to this, I'm from western Iowa.

 

[Rossiya]

What do you consider a "great" flood? One that occurs in America perhaps?

 

[blackheart]

What do you consider a "great" flood? One that occurs in America perhaps?

One that has a one-in-500 year chance of happening (or more, no one had the ability to measure beyond 500 years for this one) and affects 85/99 counties in Iowa and floods hundreds of city blocks.

 

[philippe]

Man that must suck, so much lost, do your guys home insurance cover floods? Or how is it arranged?

 

[blackheart]

Man that must suck, so much lost, do your guys home insurance cover floods? Or how is it arranged?

No one has flood insurance because insurance companies deemed it unnecessary with the .5% chance per year of this actually happening. The federal government is stepping in but I don't know what exactly will happen yet. Right now FEMA is only giving monetary assistance to low-income families

 

[philippe]

hold on, your government doesn't enforces insurance companies to take flooding into account? I would be outraged!

 

[Perfection]

I was in Eastern Wisconsin the weekend of the 7th and 8th, when the rains that lead to the flood were coming down. There was a lot of flash flooding then, and we (my mother and I) had to drive up through some about 90 miles of local roads before we could get onto Interstate 94 and it took us 3 hours. The ditches on both sides of the roads were rivers, and a few houses on the side were flooded. We saw this one guy pull onto his farm only to see it in the middle of a giant pool of water. The whole time it was pouring rain.

Scary stuff!

 

[blackheart]

hold on, your government doesn't enforces insurance companies to take flooding into account? I would be outraged!

I believe it is required if it's a reasonably guaranteed occurrence, but this flooding had a .5% chance of occurring.

 

[Ecofarm]

Photo on drudge:

Just, wow.

 

[blackheart]

Cedar Rapids before and after:

http://kcrg.mediacache.clickability.com/images/600*400/aug06.jpg

http://kcrg.mediacache.clickability.com/images/600*450/jun08.jpg

The center island is their City Hall, the bridges leading to it were completely underwater.

View of part of the UI campus from the South:

Mayflower Hall, I think it's up to the 2nd floor:

All but the southernmost bridge (Burlington) were closed due to floodwaters reaching the bottom of the bridges/ onto the bridges themselves:

Flickr site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/uinews/2589917433/in/set-72157605682402874/

 

[robo-snickers]

when your about to die is it true that the first thing that pops in your mind is sex and you get the urge to want to f*** anything you see?
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[twansalem]

It was also next to impossible to get between Cedar Rapids and Iowa City for a couple of days, even though you can usually drive it in less than 30 minutes. (That is unless you knew about a few small local gravel roads, which I did).

 

[blackheart]

It was also next to impossible to get between Cedar Rapids and Iowa City for a couple of days, even though you can usually drive it in less than 30 minutes. (That is unless you knew about a few small local gravel roads, which I did).

You mean Highway 1 and the crappy dirt roads that turn off of it? Yea that wasn't fun, good thing it only lasted a day, for me anyways.

I think most businesses didn't seriously expect people to travel from other towns.

 

[twansalem]

You mean Highway 1 and the crappy dirt roads that turn off of it? Yea that wasn't fun, good thing it only lasted a day, for me anyways.

Yeah, that way. I was in Cedar Rapids for a wedding on Saturday (no, they didn't cancel it, probably should have), and I wanted to get back to Solon on Sunday. The traffic wasn't too bad on those roads on Sunday, as that route hadn't been announced on the radio yet. I just figured that there had to be a few roads that connected Ely road to Highway 1, and I was right.

And on a side note, those were gravel roads, not dirt roads. I've traveled on true dirt roads, and these gravel roads were wonderful compared to those.

 

[DNK]

Let's just say Mayflower is really the Mayflower now, and the Arts kids will be inhaling some mold next semester, if their buildings open at all. Highway 6 got hit too (the Hyvee in Iowa City and a big chunk in Coralville, the Wal-Mart and Mall were fine). Surprisingly, it never went over the Burlington bridge, but the other bridges besides Benton are closed.

Of course, Walmart makes it out fine

Looks like the IMU got flooded. Glad they did all that work refurbishing it, just to have to refurbish it again.

Library looks alright, at least.

Does the water smell? I've heard on the news that it smells like manure and toxic chemicals when the water recedes and there's a nice slurry of crap left on everything.

That's crazy. It doesn't even look like there's a dam by the power plant anymore.

I love how the entire lower part of the park is submerged. Maybe they'll consider raising it a couple feet now?

 

[twansalem]

Does the water smell? I've heard on the news that it smells like manure and toxic chemicals when the water recedes and there's a nice slurry of crap left on everything.

Cedar Rapids was starting to smell pretty bad Saturday night.

I noticed a funny smell walking around Iowa City yesterday, but it wasn't too strong. I didn't notice anything today when I went out for lunch, but I haven't been that close to the river today.

 

[DNK]

Cedar Rapids was starting to smell pretty bad Saturday night.

Wait, when did it stop smelling pretty bad?



I kid, I kid... but it's true

It might start smelling more when the waters recede and the sun starts baking that crud. I wonder if there's going to be a major fly and mosquito invasion once the water turns back. Thousands of square feet of manure-enriched mud...

 

[twansalem]

Wait, when did it stop smelling pretty bad?



I kid, I kid... but it's true

OK, good point. I should have said it smelled worse than usual.

 

[blackheart]

It smells on Highway 6 leading to Coralville, as well as Camp Cardinal Road. Otherwise, not too much of a stinker.