Iowa's raging Cedar River forces 20,000 from homes

Source: washingtonpost.com

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa -- Days after it rose out of its banks on its way to record flooding in Cedar Rapids, the Cedar River has forced at least 20,000 people from their homes, officials said Saturday.

Officials guess it will be four days before the Cedar River drops enough for workers to even begin pumping out water that has submerged more than 400 blocks, threatened the city's drinking supply and forced the evacuation of a downtown hospital.

"We're estimating at least a couple of weeks before the flood levels get down right around flood stage and below," said Dustin Hinrichs of the Linn County emergency operations center.

The Cedar River crested Friday night at nearly 32 feet, 12 feet higher than the old record set in 1929.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/14/AR2008061400511.html

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more at link
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/14/AR2008061400511.html

I've been searching the news and did find that FEMA has a bunch of truckloads of water on their way to several cities in Iowa. That's a good thing because Cedar Rapids will run out of water by Tuesday by all estimates.
Other towns are in the same boat as it were.
Nat'l Guard troops (what's left of them after deployment to Iraq) are there, the Coast Guard is there rescuing people. The Governor, Fema director are touring various areas (?) and doing photo ops, etc.
The Red Cross is there with their shelters but no FEMA.

The only other thing I ran into is "keep your receipts" to prove to FEMA your expenses, and be sure to have ID. After Katrina, they are not going to give aid to anybody without proper ID so I do hope you didn't have to be rescued without your papers.

http://www.psywarriormatrix.com/viewtopic.php?p=17605#17605

BELIEVE IT OR NOT - FEMA Director just said 630,000 MRE's are on their way (had not been ordered yet, but he was playing it safe) and over 1,000,000 bottles of water are ON SITE and they are about to announce distribution points........(THIS HAS BEEN GOING ON for over a week.......)

This is the town where I was born - 13 miles up the road from us.
FEMA, National Guard, all the Congresspeople, the Governor, etc., just had a Press Conference - There are now 25,000 people evacuated - One hospital completed evacuation last night - 220 patients - as the water crept up in the lobby - 600 volunteers arrived to sand-bag while the ambulances roared in and out taking people to neighboring towns - travelling hundreds of miles out of the way because MOST roads in and out of the city are closed because several bridges have collapsed, the E-W TRains are sitting on the tracks, Quaker Oats is at least 6' under water...closed indefinitely -
http://www.fourwinds10.com/siterun_data/environment/weather_and_climate/news.php?q=1213401384

stay dry!

The post I responded to asked where was FEMA...so on finding this link, I thought I'd let them know what the FailedEmergencyMismanagementAdminiistration was doing.

since Cedar Rapids is in critical mode with water shortages. How long does it take them to get those trucks there? This flooding started what? 3 days ago?
NOAA predicted then that it would be catastrophic. FEMA should have had the water, MRIs ready at the border!
It's going to take weeks to get the water down in some areas enough to start cleanup.
I just read that there's over 600 patients at the U of I in Iowa City. I don't know if they have to evac or not given the fact that the water still going to rise alot.
What an absolutely horrific situation.

this is bushworld. the article, or post, that you linked to should be posted here. many people need to read it.

With more yet to come as the water moves downstream. We never thought we would see a flood that surpassed 1993, especially only 15 years later. 1993 was a "100-year flood", they are calling this a "500-year flood".

I was just looking at NOAA/NWS's Hydrological graphs for Iowa City, other cities downstream including towns in Missouri. They aren't expected to crest until next Tuesday or Wed. Then on some of the graphs, there's just a straigt line indicating the rivers stay at "record flood level" for at least a week.
Check out the river levels here: Click on the purple squares to see the graphs. It's jaw dropping stuff!

http://www.crh.noaa.gov/ahps2/index.php?wfo=dvn

Iowa City's graph which shows that the river level doesn't even begin to drop below flood state for many days:

I am certainly no expert, but I think the Flood now starting to hit Iowa City is going to be devastating.
The Coralville reservoir which was built years ago for flood control....is out of control and has been for a few days. They have been releasing the water as fast as they can and it still went started over the spillway a few days ago. They just closed I-380 yesterday that travels over this reservoir. The story is that it may be closed for a week....I sincerely hope not.
That right there is a week of out of control water going over the spillway and who knows how many days after the interstate opens back up.
I'm rereading my post and not sure I am explaining myself well enough.....
I hope I'm wrong .....but I'm afraid from the reservoir to the Mississippi is going to be a devastated area for the next days and maybe weeks...

are you in danger? how is the news getting out there? on this board it seems like every other thread is about tim russert of all things and this flooding is HUGE news. take care.

But many relatives and friends have been evacuated. It is going to be pretty bad once they can get back to their houses. It's a very sad situation for many. :cry:

and anyone in the . . . flood plain is going to be at risk," Public Works Director Bill Stowe told reporters Friday.

ALSO: Miles of fields with fledgling corn plants have been inundated, their green sprouts swallowed up by water the color of coffee. The rising floodwaters lapped at the bottoms of highway billboards. They washed away bridges -- even one that had been weighted down by railroad cars filled with rocks in an effort to keep it from collapsing.
(((why they didn't give the estimated number of MILES of fields of corn is curious. Could it be hundreds of MILES, or thousands of MILES? Afterall, 83 of the 99 counties in Iowa are declared disaster zones. FOOD CRISIS for our the future?)))

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/politics/la-na-flood14-2008jun14,0,1149918.story

in Iowa and other states. So I think if you want corn anything, stock up now because it's going off the charts price wise.