Iowa City Flooding

In these last days Evie, Jonathan and I have been following the flooding in the Midwest with great interest. In 1993 Iowa City/Coralville experienced severe flooding when the Iowa River and Coralville Reservoir overflowed the dam. Significant damaged occurred then. This year they are suffering through flooding again, and on a higher scale.

The river crested late yesterday three feet above the 1993 level, which was a record year. The University of Iowa has lost 16 buildings with several more threatened, including their main library and the college of education. One of the three married student housing complexes has gone under water and about half of the second has experienced one to two feet of flooding into the ground floor apartments. The complex in which we lived is near the second about ten feet higher up the hill.

Each side of the city is almost cut off from the other. Four of the five bridges have been closed and the fifth is down to one lane traffic for necessary traffic only. The only other way around is to go north to the interstate 80, and even then two of the four exits are closed.

Below are some pictures of the flooding. If you want to see more, go to www.press-citizen.com

The Iowa City Corps is a on the right edge of the first picture. The Corps is a half block off from the flooding and will be okay as long as the railroad bed holds back the water. If there is a breach in the railroad the Corps could have as much as 3 ft of water. (Since first posting, I learned that the Iowa City Corps was evaculated prior to railroad giving way. Also, UI now has 25 buildings impacted by flooding).

On the edge of the far left is the restaurant that Evie and I loved to visit three to five times a year.

Married student housing is in the top right of the following picture.