Midwest/Iowa Flooding

[Chris Foltz]

What part of I-80 is closed? DOT page doesnt show any closures on I-80, not saying your not correct or anything....I was just curious where its closed and where you found the info I guess....

From the Iowa DOT site...

I-80 in both directions: Road closed to traffic.Between Exit 265 and Exit 267. The road is closed to traffic, because of flooding, follow the detour signs for a long period.

Comment: Cedar County: The Interstate is closed near Atalissa due to rising waters of the Cedar River. The detour route is being designated as U.S. 61 to U.S. 20 to Interstate 35.

Last updated today at 4:57PM

Click here...

 

[MatthewCarman]

What part of I-80 is closed? DOT page doesnt show any closures on I-80, not saying your not correct or anything....I was just curious where its closed and where you found the info I guess....

CH13 showed part of it closed in Eastern Iowa. Chris posted the information.

 

[Tim Shriver]

Not much better here in WI either.

The Lower Dells lake is no longer. The 265 sq. acre lake drained
out a levee break the yesterday.

Several dams ready to top or give out. Flooding in many towns.

Highways and interstates are being closed and detoured this evening
and it still coming down.

Water, water everywhere...

Tim

 

[Ben McMillan]

They are beginning to evacuate hospitals now in Cedar Rapids...major sand bagging effort to save Mercy Hospital in Cedar Rapids. According to reports, officials were going to try to get all patients out tomorrow by lunch time as the river continues to rise.

 

[Tim Shriver]

My thoughts and prayers go out to those having to deal with
the flooding. This is a problem that will not go away over night
and the effects will be felt for weeks to come.

Tim

 

[Angie K Holliday]

I have a niece in Ottumwa, she mentioned flooded streets, but nothing about evacuations. I'm sure some parts of town will be evacuated, but not the entire town, cause there are hills where she lives and I'm sure the water won't get that high. My mom has to drive through there tomorrow, so I'm watching for road closings.

 

[MatthewCarman]

I have a niece in Ottumwa, she mentioned flooded streets, but nothing about evacuations. I'm sure some parts of town will be evacuated, but not the entire town, cause there are hills where she lives and I'm sure the water won't get that high. My mom has to drive through there tomorrow, so I'm watching for road closings.

The main part of town is right next to the Des Moines River. There is bluffs in parts of Ottumwa and I to have relatives there who I think will be fine. Alot of water is coming down the Des Moines river like a raging flood from Saloreville,Red Rock and many other rivers/creeks. It is along the Des Moines River I am most worried about flooding in this area. When I heard Ottumwa was being evacuated it is all hear say. Red Rock still has 2 of it's flood gates shut and untill they are opened Ottumwa may be fine long enough for the water levels to start going down and dodge a bullet. Let's hope that happens.

 

[Angie K Holliday]

Oh, she probably just didn't think to mention it. I should have worded that better, sorry! The Des Moines will probably cause a lot of trouble in the coming days for a lot of people. I'm hoping my Mom's trip won't be too badly affected, she's really nervous about driving. She will have to pass through Ottumwa, going to Oskaloosa.

I'm glad there are others watching the situation, so I can get all the information possible from the area!

 

[Bill Schintler]

Eastern IA River level status/forecasts

Been trying to save the Memorial Union building area in Iowa city, a big student hub and and an area the university just spent a lot of money in upgrading. We've got sandbag walls up to 8 feet already in areas and I don't know if it's going to be enough.

They are beginning to evacuate hospitals now in Cedar Rapids...major sand bagging effort to save Mercy Hospital in Cedar Rapids. According to reports, officials were going to try to get all patients out tomorrow by lunch time as the river continues to rise.

[FONT=verdana,arial,helvetica]These forecasts assume no additional rainfall. We will be dry through Sunday, and then all models continue to indicate a significant rainfall event on Sunday.

[FONT=verdana,arial,helvetica]Cedar River at Cedar Rapids. Record stage in 1993 was 20.0 ft. It appears to be cresting now at 31.12 ft!

[/FONT] Iowa River at Iowa City. Record level in 1993 was 28.5 ft. It is now 30.0 with a forecast crest of 33 ft on Wednesday.

Iowa River at Marengo. Record stage in 1993 was 20.3 ft. It crested at 21.4 ft yesterday and is slowly falling.

http://www.crh.noaa.gov/ahps2/index.php?wfo=dvn
http://www.crh.noaa.gov/ahps2/hydrograph.php?wfo=dvn&gage=cidi4&view=1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1
[/FONT]http://www.crh.noaa.gov/ahps2/hydrograph.php?wfo=dvn&gage=iowi4&view=1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1
[FONT=verdana,arial,helvetica]http://www.crh.noaa.gov/ahps2/hydrograph.php?wfo=dvn&gage=mroi4&view=1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1

[/FONT][FONT=verdana,arial,helvetica]Here's a thought to entertain - regarding management of water level on the Iowa River... I wonder if the level of the reservoir could
have been managed differently with a priori knowledge of this event? If they
had maximized the outflow while allowing the lake level to fall as much as
possible, several months ago when the flow on the Iowa River was low. A risk
obviously is: the lake would be too low during the summer for recreational use.
Big deal. I wonder how much more control over the Iowa River (not just
downstream but also upstream in areas like Marengo) they would have at this
point...
[/FONT]
[FONT=verdana,arial,helvetica]
- bill
2:15 PM CDT, 6/13
[/FONT]

 

[Josh Richardson]

My ex-GF told me they had closure earlier in Des Moines, between the Ankeny exit and the Saylorville exit, but traffic might have been just backed up there.

Are you talking about 35 or 80? Either way I guess it must have been traffic cause I dont see anything on the DOT site for the Des Moines area right now.

 

[Andy Wehrle]

Trying to get around here in southern Wisconsin (and I'm sure in Iowa as well) is a nightmare with Interstates closed due to flooding and washouts in several places, along with too many county and state highways and secondary roads to count. Two main railroad lines and several branch lines are out of commission as well.

 

[Bill Schintler]

Eastern IA flooding

This has been a very quiet thread given the overall significance of the ongoing weather-related natural disaster. Nearly 500 city blocks under water in the city of Cedar Rapids. In Iowa City, the worse is yet to come, with a projected crest late on Monday. Flooding well in excess of record levels is ongoing in Iowa City. In terms of overall impact to the area - ranging from loss of homes and businesses, to economic impacts, number of people directly affected in one way or another, and insurance payouts; this easily well exceeds Greensburg and Parkersburg, not to in anyway trivialize those natural disasters. OK, flooding is not nearly as spectacular as a major tornado devastating a small town; but for those directly effected, the results are as devastating. If you have 5 ft of water in your house, you have to strip it to it's shell and rebuild everything after the water subsides. I just find this a very quiet thread given attention today in ST to very trivial and worthless threads such as the hot chase vehicle "web cam versus no web cam" debate; and other trivial things...

- bill

 

[Angie K Holliday]

I've spent a large portion of my day watching videos from the Cedar Rapids and Iowa City areas. Also actually watched local news to find out the affects on the towns around me as the Mississippi rises. I don't have a lot to add at this point, but I certainly feel this is a very important situation and I feel very bad for those who are directly affected. For me, it is just keeping me from getting places that I plan to go next weekend, but I know how hard the 93 flood hit my area and to see it even worse than that in other places is very sad. It's going to be nearly that bad here too, and could be worse if we get additional rain before the water starts going down.

 

[Will Tinder]

Something for everyone to keep in mind are some of the major road closures coming from this. For example, according to local news I380 between Iowa City and Cedar Rapids closed earlier today, and is expected to remain closed for the next week. During that time, the recommended Iowa DOT detour to get from the Iowa City area to Cedar Rapids involves taking I80 to Des Moines, then I35 north to IA27, then 27 back east to Waterloo to I380, then south to Cedar Rapids.

A normally half hour drive has a 281 mile detour, whose length is being compounded by the number of other flooded roads whose traffic are being diverted to this same route. Flooding has apparently restricted almost all the roads in the area between Cedar Rapids and I35 - I can't imagine any other reason for such a ridiculous detour.

And we won't get into the possible economic effects from the loss of much of the corn crop... its bad.

 

[MatthewCarman]

This is possibly the worst flooding Iowa has ever seen as many records are broken. Does anyone for sure know if this is the worst flood in our history for Iowa or even the midwest? I know 93 was bad and I know we also had a bad flood in the 40's.

Yes this thread is very quite for the historic flooding that is occuring.