Cedar Rapids Flood 08 - Aftermath
A quick little tour around some of the flood damaged area (Ellis Road) here in Cedar Rapids.
Other formats available: Quicktime (.mov)
A quick little tour around some of the flood damaged area (Ellis Road) here in Cedar Rapids.
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23/06/2008 at 6:31 pm Permalink
it looks so lovely there now. How sad, all those homes left like that.
Very strange to find the desk in the middle of the field. Was there anything in the drawers? Maybe the owners will see your vlog and come claim it…
23/06/2008 at 7:06 pm Permalink
Ugh.
All the hours, hard work, love that must’ve gone into those gardens - and the cost.
And the homes…
I can’t think about it - it’s too depressing.
And I know how long it takes to recover from flooding.
Thanks for showing us what we otherwise wouldn’t see.
And for staying with the story after the world’s media has moved on.
23/06/2008 at 7:39 pm Permalink
What a mess. All those beautiful riverside houses trashed. Suddenly brought up memories of New Orleans and Katrina.
Great that you show us this, that I can sit here in London and get shown more of the story behind the story.
Of course, it was crazy over here, too, last year.
23/06/2008 at 8:25 pm Permalink
The damage is horrendous, i agree with Rupert that i and alot of others would not have even know of this if we weren’t regulars to your site. I know it’s probably too premature at the moment but it would be great if you could get some testimonials from the people who have been affected by the floods along the line. Of course as you said in the video it’s difficult as you don’t want to invade people’s privacy.
Thanks for the video.
23/06/2008 at 8:46 pm Permalink
Thanks for the wonderful comments. It is hard thinking about all the damage that’s been done here. In Cedar Rapids, 1,300 city blocks and 9.2 square miles of homes and businesses are gone. 35,000 people were evacuated.
Once things are a little more stable, I will try to get into those areas and try talking to some people.
24/06/2008 at 3:57 pm Permalink
Oh wow, the public garden! I had forgotten about that place. So sad
25/06/2008 at 7:23 pm Permalink
I don’t want to diminish the trials and tribulations of flood recovery victims. But, that looks like the flood plain of the river, and one of the reasons it makes for good gardening is that it periodically floods bringing in silt that makes for good fertile top soil.
Also, it looked like that jumble of houses might have been “boat houses” or houses built to float on the water?
I recall that back in the 1930s and 40s when the Army Corp of Engineers was building lots of dams on the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers, it was to improve navigation and prevent flooding in Louisiana. Within just a decade or two hundreds of small riverside towns were flooded out when the rivers silted up due to the dams. I wonder if this issue still plays a part in flooding these days.
26/06/2008 at 5:54 pm Permalink
Hey John. The chance of that area flooding is 1 in 500. I don’t believe that area has ever flooded. Those houses were in fact boat houses. However, again, that area isnt “supposed” to flood. Many of the houses in that area ended up downstream smashed into bridges.
I am leaning towards the argument that we have caused this flooding ourselves with all the damns and levees we’ve built. Basically we are forcing a vast amount of water into a small channel when the river has it’s own mind made up as to where it wants to go.
29/06/2008 at 4:26 am Permalink
OMG. We are, in fact, so fragile in this world…
07/07/2008 at 7:52 am Permalink
Man that’s horrible. So glad you are sharing these images with us man.
12/08/2008 at 5:22 pm Permalink
Richard Pratt posts this vlog over on Vemio:
http://blogs.nationaltrust.org/preservationnation/?p=714
about the lost of historic homes over on Third Street.
–John
http://www.HistoricHomeWorks.com