Flood Updates: Aftermath I

So Ali and I went down to Iowa City for a couple of days to visit my family and then we stopped back up in Iowa Falls to visit her Grandparents before we headed back to Mankato- and, naturally, since we were down in Eastern Iowa anyway, we saw flood damage. In one sense it was almost inescapable- one cannot be in Iowa City without going by the river at some point and since my sister lives out in Coralville, we had to drive down the Strip as well.

The first real inkling of damage came on the drive down when we went through Cedar Rapids. Not much damage was visible from 380, even in daylight, but that night, it was almost eerie. I must have driven on 380 hundreds of times and even at night, there's usually a pretty good clip of traffic going through the downtown area. Not so when we went down: there were hardly any cars on the road and we breezed right through. Granted, it was a weekday night and it was getting later- but even for what I perceive as normal, late night traffic, there was a lot missing.

Iowa City is a bit battered- the only street still closed is Dubuque St. but they're hoping to have that cleared by the weekend or maybe sometime next week.



This second picture is from Parkview Church which borders up against the Idyllwild development that runs out towards the Thornberry Dog Park and the Peninsula Development. Mom mentioned that Idyllwild was looking for a buyout- and the situation had been made worse because the developer took off three feet of ground to grade the site when they were first built. The Peninsula Development was free of damage, but due to the only one road in or out (supposedly making it more idyllic, I think was the idea) they had to evacuate as well.





Then we went down along Riverside through the Arts Campus area and up to City Park. The Arts Campus was probably the hardest hit area of the University. It just looked devastated and cleaning crews were out in force. In a bright spot, per the UIMA Blog, it looks as though the Museum of Art managed to get 99% of their collection evacuated safely and it also looks as though they ended up with only 3-4 inches of water in the main areas of the building instead of the 3-4 feet previously estimated. There's no word on the Old Art Building that I heard- and they're inspecting Art Building West. Dad mentioned the possibility that it might have to come down if the damage warrants it- and given the trouble they had building it and refilling the pond, I might be a little worried about it until they get the go ahead. (I'm betting they will- there's been no major announcements. Anyway, this next set is shots of Lower City Park- which is still fairly inundated.