How the Flooding Happened

As requested, more expansive coverage of the Iowa floods of 2008.

In late May and most of June, it rained all the time in Iowa. No, it didn't rain. It was like living in the ocean so much water was coming down and pooling around everything. And after a harsh, icy winter, the waterways were already high with melted snow/ice. So things just got worse with the rain. Then Wisconsin and all those states north of Iowa experienced heavy flooding. And all their water ran south straight into Iowa. People could see it coming but nobody expected it to be so bad. Regular flood prevention measures were taken. Then on Thursday June 12, everybody realized it was very bad.

Look up the floods of 1993 for reference. The Iowa Memorial Union had to be evacuated which is a big deal because it meant the bookstore, administration offices, student organization offices, and pretty much everything that runs the university. I helped there. It was miserably hot, muddy, and stressful. Hundreds of people were outside sandbagging the IMU because it is right next to the river. Meanwhile, the Art Museum, theater/music/art buildings, dorms, research labs and more were also being evacuated. It stormed every night making the water rise faster. Friday we went back to finish the IMU but we had to leave the building by 10 AM and abandon everything that was left. There wasn't much but the National Guard came in and that was that. By then the water was already in the building, a couple of inches maybe. All the bosses then had to figure out where to put everything and everybody so the university could function on a minimal level. The bookstore was mostly moved to the University Capitol Town Center, catering is working out of Kinnick, and everything's all over the place.

Friday afternoon I was back where I work on S. Gilbert and we tried to prep the warehouse and sand bag it. If the water had actually gotten as high as was predicted, our efforts would've been easily washed away. We got lucky there. They sent everyone home who lived on the other side of the river because by midday, only two bridges were still open and they were preparing to close those at any minute. Crossing the river would've been completely impossible. Lots of highways and roads were already closed. A lot of university buildings lost and still don't have power. A few neighborhoods were evacuated too. I mostly know about University stuff though because that's where I am and what I was helping.

Saturday I went with Amy and Dan to make sandbags down by the Main Library on Madison Street. The Library's basement (which holds thousands of books) had been evacuated Friday. It was sandbagged, as was Lindquist, Adler, Becker, the water treatment plants, and lots more. By this time water was in the EPB, covered the Library parking lot, was in Hubbard Park, Iowa Ave, City Park was long abandoned to the water, the arts campus was too. Around 3 PM there was a tornado warning so they had to clear all the volunteers out and just hope that what was done would be good enough. There was no tornado but Amy and I got caught in the heaviest downpour I have ever seen when we went to get food for our tired friends and selves. It was like a monsoon.

Sunday I woke up with incredibly sore arms and shoulders. And sunburn. Sandbags are very, very heavy especially when wet. They didn't need any more volunteers that day, mainly because they didn't want anyone too close to the river in case something broke. They decided to just risk it. By this time the Cedar River had crested over in Cedar Rapids and when the Iowa River crested on Monday/Tuesday it was earlier than expected. So the water didn't make it to the predicted point which was very fortunate. But the arts campus is wiped out, the IMU has about 4 feet of water in it, the Library only had about 2 inches which should be pumped out by now. EPB is unknown but they decided not to sandbag it at all and just let it go so I can't imagine it's in good shape. Most of the bridges are open again but some main roads are still closed. Thousands of unused sandbags were shipped south for those places still expecting the water.

Word has it the IMU ground floor will be closed for a few months and the bookstore will have to be completely redone (it was just redone about a year ago). There's been talk that most arts majors will have to be dropped because those facilities are completely done in. My friend Alex was helping move music departments but he said they just couldn't get everything. Moving 35 Steinway pianos is fairly difficult. And even if the water didn't get them, the humidity probably destroyed them. The art studios are gone (printing presses, kilns, metalworking, etc). We got an email saying that people in summer classes could drop with no penalty and a full refund but were encouraged not to do so. And we got an email telling people not to drop registration for next semester but it's impossible for the university to provide classes for fine arts and for a lot of other classes because there's no space. I guess I'm lucky that I already graduated but I feel bad saying that.

FEMA has been around assessing damage because a number of counties in Iowa were given presidential disaster declarations, Johnson being one of them. Bush took a helicopter tour of the area and then peaced out. The National Guard has been around and is still helping out. The Coralville strip is under water. But it's been mostly good weather since last Wednesday so the water has been going down. Not as quickly as it has in Cedar Rapids but bridges and roads are re-opening, people can go back home, buildings are getting power back and things are slowly being re-established. And we don't have a curfew at night anymore. For a few days you couldn't be within 100 yards of flood water between 8:30 PM and 6 AM.

I'm back to work and it's mostly the same old routine. Most university employees didn't go back until today though I worked all of last week except Monday. So, things are bad but could've been much worse. We never had any water or power restrictions and I don't think there were any deaths. That's just Iowa City though. There are tons of pictures online if you want to see that though it's hard to make sense of them unless you know the area. There won't be any 4th of July fireworks because everything's under water so that's disappointing but I'm sure we'll all be ok. So that's kind of how it was.

It was pretty scary sometime. Seeing my university look like it was being prepared for a war was unsettling. Not something I wanted to experience and hope to never experience again. Having the National Guard posted at the doors of the student union doesn't usually happen. Seeing all that did shake me, especially when nobody knew when the water would stop rising. But I did very much appreciate the way everyone came out to help. The Midwest is good like that and Iowa City is no exception. I suppose if there has to be a disaster, I'd want to be in a place like this.

I suppose if you have questions, you should let me know. I'll try to address them. But that's all for now. Everything is going to be ok here, different and harder for some time, but ok.