At 11:45 a.m. Tuesday, Zogg said the National Weather Service just bumped up its crest prediction for the Cedar River at Cedar Rapids from 21.2 feet to 22 feet.
The record crest in Cedar Rapids is 20 feet. The significant flood of 1993 only sent the river to 19.27 feet.
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| ©Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette |
| Richard Campbell of Cedar Rapids carries a pepper plant he rescued from his and his wife Barbara's garden at the Ellis Park community garden plots Monday in northwest Cedar Rapids. The couple pulled their tomato, pepper, watermelon and cucumber plants from their swamped plot. They also pulled out some radishes. Rising water of the Cedar River already has swamped many other gardens. The couple, who live in the nearby Time Check neighborhood, has had a garden at the park since the program's inception. |
"Feel free to use this in your story," Zogg said. "This is a historic event. These are river stages we've never seen before."
Zogg said predicting the coming river crests was "extremely challenging" because the stages at some points along the river now are ones never observed before.
"We don't know exactly what will happen when water gets that high," he said. "We don't know for sure, and nobody knows for sure."
Craig Hanson, the city of Cedar Rapids' public works maintenance manager, said late Tuesday that the 16th Avenue bridge over the Cedar River was closed due to structural concerns.
Late Tuesday morning, he was looking at the latest stage levels at the city of Waterloo. At 11:30 a.m., the National Weather Service had posted a current stage at Waterloo of 24.9 feet.
Hanson said the water level at Cedar Rapids often is about one foot to one-and-half feet less on Cedar Rapids' river gauge when the Waterloo crest gets to Cedar Rapids. He seemed to suggest that could mean a crest here even above 22 feet. "We'll see. We'll see," Hanson said.
Key concerns at noon along the Cedar River at Cedar Rapids: 10 homes on Ellis Road NW along the river, where an evacuation recommendation has been made. At 19 feet, water will begin to flood there, Hanson said.
There is concern, too, about the National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library. The levee there will be topped at about 22 feet, Hanson said. Before that happens, dirt will be added to the top, he added.
Cedar Rapids braces for river level never seen before
Public Works Director Dave Elgin late Monday afternoon was pointing to the U.S. Geological Survey's forecast for a 21.5-foot crest of the Cedar River here Thursday, saying even Wednesday will be "unexplored" territory for the city.
Wednesday morning is when the Cedar River is slated to surpass the noteworthy 1993 flood mark of 19.27 feet.
The city's multistep flood action plan is based on lessons learned from the 1993 event and from lesser floods since, including one in late April in which the river reached just above 17 feet in Cedar Rapids.
New lessons are going to be learned this time, too, Elgin said. The predicted 21.5-foot crest is more than 2 feet above the 1993 crest and it tops the record river level of 20 feet, which records say happened in 1929 and 1851.
City officials aren't sitting by to watch the record-setting.
By late Monday afternoon, city crews were beginning to build temporary dikes - two to provide additional protection to the working-class Time Check Neighborhood in northwest Cedar Rapids, one to protect homes near the Czech Village, and one to protect Osborn Park and the Sinclair packinghouse site across the river from Czech Village.
Crews will use excess dirt on hand at The Eastern Iowa Airport for the dikes, Elgin said.
In addition, Elgin said, the permanent levee protecting the Time Check Neighborhood may not be high enough to prevent the river from spilling over at certain low spots if the river climbs to 21.5 feet. At 19.27 feet in 1993, the river was within a foot of some of the lower spots on the levee, he said.
As a result, city crews would be adding dirt at the those spots as well, he said.
For now, the flooding is not expected to close Interstate 380, as happened in 1993.
City officials also weren't worried about street bridges over the river, but the CRANDIC railroad span just downstream of the Eighth Avenue Bridge could be lost, Fire Chief Steve Havlik said last night.
"We're going to lose that bridge if the water gets much higher," he said.
Havlik told Gov. Chet Culver at a briefing last night that engineers are concerned the railroad bridge could float off its piers, but they also believe it's too heavy to be carried very far downstream.
The forecast for today is rain-free, but showers and thunderstorms are expected late Wednesday and into Thursday. It was the rainfalls of 7 to 9 inches over the weekend in northern Iowa responsible for the record crests, with the Cedar expected to crest in Cedar Falls today, 4 feet above the all-time high, before heading south to Vinton and Cedar Rapids.
Elgin said city officials don't know all that is coming at them.
"We do expect there will be surprises," he said.
City crews have a ready supply of sandbags should an emergency develop, he said.
Because of the unknowns, the city also is making plans to evacuate residents should the need arise.
At a Monday afternoon news conference, Dave Koch, the Fire Department's spokesman, said evacuations will not be mandatory. However, he urged residents to leave their homes for health concerns, if water levels near electrical outlets, furnaces or appliances, or if public officials issue an evacuation notification. Residents of affected areas will be notified via a reverse 911 call system if such an evacuation is warranted.
Last night, water levels were nearing 17 feet, a level which sends water onto Edgewood Road and forces the closure of the busy Edgewood Road bridge.
The city's Elgin said he expects some residents will see water in their basements as a result of the record flood.
The areas of Time Check, Osborn Park, Ellis Road NW west of Edgewood Road, A Street in Czech Village and the Cedar Valley Neighborhood in the Rompot Street area all had potential to see problems.
At the same time, Elgin noted the city replaced a major trunk sewer line serving the Time Check Neighborhood following the 1993 flood, which has protected the neighborhood from widespread sewer backups since.
The city urged residents to stay away from the rising water because it can contain bacteria from human and animal waste.
In some instances, the city's sanitary sewer lines will become overloaded from rainwater seeping into them, necessitating a discharge into the river, Elgin said.
The city's Water Pollution Control plant, which at times of heavy rain receives 80 million gallons of effluent a day, is now receiving 120 million gallons, which is the plant's treatment capacity, Steve Hershner, the plant's environmental manager, said Monday.
Dave Smith, the city's parks superintendent, noted Monday afternoon that the Cedar River already had overtaken the community garden plots at Ellis Park.
A few gardeners were wading in water trying to dig out young plants, he said.
City officials encouraged residents to call a special help line with questions - (319) 286-5770.
Residents also can obtain 10 filled sandbags and some additional unfilled ones 24 hours a day at the Public Works Department, 1201 Sixth St. SW.
Volunteers who want to help fill sandbags should call (319) 286-5555 to sign up for a two-hour shift.
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