Cedar Rapids residents evacuate homes ahead of flooding in Iowa
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa -- Residents are leaving low-lying areas of Cedar Rapids, adhering to a request by authorities to clear out by 8 p.m. Sunday due to the risk of flooding from the rising Cedar River.
The river crested Saturday night in Waterloo and Cedar Falls, which are about 55 miles upstream from Cedar Rapids, which is Iowa’s second-largest city, with about 130,000 people.
The water levels in Cedar Falls and Waterloo were slightly lower than had been expected, but they still reached levels that were second only to those in 2008, when a major flood devastated the region.
The National Weather Service predicted that the river will crest at 23 feet in Cedar Rapids on Tuesday morning. Officials asked those living in about 5,000 downtown homes near the river to evacuate. They said it could be days before people can return home.
The Cedar Rapids school district said Sunday that it is canceling classes through Wednesday because of the flooding. District officials will reevaluate the situation by Wednesday afternoon.
Cedar Rapids City Manager Jeff Pomeranz said the city has been preparing to deal with a major flood since that of 2008, which caused billions of dollars in damage. City workers and volunteers have been working for days to build a temporary system of levees to try to contain the floodwaters.
“All the work is coming together, and you can see the benefit of planning and preparation,” Pomeranz said.
After the 2008 flood, about 1,350 homes near the Cedar River were bought out and destroyed to reduce the amount of damage that future floods could inflict. About 45 acres of green space sit in that area today.
Unlike in 2008, residents have had more time to prepare for a flood. The benefit of that extra time was clear in the small town of Palo upstream where residents of more than 80 homes have evacuated.
Kim Hutchins, whose home in Palo is about 10 miles upstream from Cedar Rapids, told the Des Moines Register that she spent Saturday packing up her kitchen while some friends unhooked her furnace in the basement and moved it up to the garage. Most of her furniture was piled onto trailers to move.
“They’ve been telling us it was coming for days. Last time, we had eight or 10 hours to get out,” said Hutchins, 53, who planned to go stay with her mother.
Palo residents were being urged not to use water on Sunday because of a sewer line break and area flooding. Officials said they were working to repair the sewer line quickly. In the meantime, they were providing bottled water to residents.
Parts of southern Minnesota and southwestern Wisconsin also remained under flood warnings on Sunday, but it appeared that most of the threat of major flooding has passed in those states.
In the southern Minnesota town of St. Clair, eight to 10 homes remained evacuated Sunday, but the Le Sueur River was receding after cresting on Friday.
Assistant Blue Earth County Emergency Manager Eric Weller said Sunday that “we were very lucky overnight” that not much rain fell. But he said crews were still pumping at the wastewater treatment plant’s lift station and that the town’s 870 residents should still refrain from taking showers or using the toilet.
Two bridges remained closed in LeSueur because of high water, but Weller said schools were expected to reopen Monday.
In Cedar Rapids, local churches are opening their doors to other faith communities so worship isn’t interrupted by possible flooding, CBS affiliate KGAN reported.
“Being a part of the Catholic community is important to our family. It was important to worship today in preparation for tomorrow’s event,” says Beth Otting, who attends St. Wenceslaus.
Immaculate Conception Church gave space and time to two churches who realized they couldn’t prepare for the flood and hold regular services.
“Certainly we can open our arms and we can let people come in and use our space when they need it. We are delighted to be able to do that,” said Father Chris Podhajsky, pastor of Immaculate Conception and St. Wenceslaus, to KGAN.
In Wisconsin, floods and mudslides are washing away promising-looking corn and soybean crops in western Wisconsin.
Before the recent flooding, farmers were looking at a potentially record-setting harvest after a near-perfect growing season, the Wisconsin State Journal reported.
But farmers hit by mudslides in the valleys “are basically in hell right now,” said Vance Haugen, the agriculture agent for the UW Extension in Crawford County.
Farmers whose fields are covered in water or mud may have to wait until the ground freezes before they can harvest whatever is left, Haugen said.
“Farmers are getting psychologically worn down,” Haugen said.
He said farmers are in the middle of harvesting corn silage used for animal feed, “and the quality goes down the longer you take to harvest it. And if you go into the fields too soon with your machinery you can squash the soil structure and it can take years -- sometimes decades -- to repair some of that damaged soil.”
Corn already is showing signs of poorer quality in wet areas, Haugen said. Farmers worry that the quality of their corn will dip so low that it won’t meet the standards to make ethanol, he said.
Adam Hady, the ag agent for the UW Extension in Richland County, said corn stalks also are weakening in some areas. That will lead to machinery breakdowns during harvest, he said.
“The crops were so beautiful and a lot of guys went from believing that this was going to be one of the best harvests ever to wondering if they’ll even get into their fields for the harvest,” Hady said.
Because the flooding has happened in just one region and a bountiful harvest is still expected in most grain-producing states, prices for corn futures have not risen, analysts say.
“So now they’re going to get poor prices with less of a crop. That’s tough to take,” Haugen said.
After last week’s heavy rains, forecasts call for a dry week ahead in southwestern Wisconsin.