Depressing Flood Update

Normandy Drive, where I worked on Monday, was issued a mandatory evacuation order last night. Flood waters topped the sandbag wall today. Here is a picture from the Iowa City Press Citizen website


PC Photo by Matthew Holst Steven Miller, Senior Construction Inspector for the City of Iowa City, watches the mandatory evacuation of Normandy Drive, Thursday, June 12, 2008, in Iowa City, Iowa. Miller coordinated the building of the retaining wall to protect the neighborhood and was nearly brought to tears when floodwaters broke through.

My opinion: Miller worked like a dog for 5 days straight. He is what every worker who serves the public should aspire to.

Here is a link to a podcast I created today during my technology implementation class:

flood podcast


We let class out early and I went to my office which is one block from the river. The latest projection puts the river crest on Monday nearly one foot higher than our doorway. I put all my personal items to a second floor storage area, along with other tech staff we moved my computer lab to the third floor of our central administration office building, and put my desks up on concrete blocks. The water is now even with the building across the street in front of us, and water is also rising behind our building through the storm sewers. I'll shoot some images tomorrow.

My Brother the Sandbagger

When we were in school my brother, Tom, and I frequently rode our Schwinn Twin cruiser tandem to school. As the older brother I sat in front and steered. This meant that I had to frequently scold Tom for “sandbagging:” taking his feet off the pedals and coasting.

Tom spent yesterday sandbagging too, but it was anything but coasting. His in-laws live in the “Mosquito Flats” section of Iowa City. Their backyard used to front the Iowa River. Yesterday their backyard WAS the Iowa River. I came over to help him and his wife and sons.

The benchmark for all flooding is 1993. The Coralville dam, upriver 5 miles, was overtopped to the tune of 5 feet above the spillway that summer. Residents of Mosquito Flats were out of their homes for over a month. Yesterday Corps of Engineers representatives (who control the dam) told residents to expect a water level at least one foot higher than ’93.

The big difference this time was a coordinated volunteer effort. Engineers laid out a line along the back of all the properties. Using GPS they shot elevations of yards then drove stakes and made tape marks as to how high to build sandbag walls. The community turn out was great, high school kids, college students, residents, kids, were all out in force. City trucks dropped sand, the corps donated bags.Crews filled bags, volunteers with pickup trucks would load sand and drive as far as they could into back yards. Human chains unloaded trucks and built walls. The Salvation Army came with sandwiches and drinks. Mormon kids on mission in Iowa carpooled and showed up in droves. People I knew who didn't live anywhere near, showed up with pizzas. Elderly residents who couldn't physically work spent the day baking cookies and bringing them out. A member of our church who lives in the neighborhood broke her leg last week. She spent the entire day in a wheelchair at the sand pile with a shovel filling bags.

Here is Monte, who we spent most of the day working with:

(Photo from www.press-citizen.com)

Here is some wall building:

(Photo from www.press-citizen.com)

And the sandbag fillers:

(Photo from www.press-citizen.com)
When I went home last night we had finished about 8 properties with about four more to go. With luck it can be finished today, as the river is rising another foot today.