Cedar Rapids struggles to endure historic flood
Friday, June 13, 2008 10:30 AM PDT
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| Abby Cearlock, (left), and her sister Elizabeth Cearlock bag sand at a volunteer site, Thursday in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The Cearlock’s, along with a sister, their dad and brother are lifelong residents of Cedar Rapids and spent several hours filling bags with wet muddy sand. |
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (AP) — The Cedar River poured over its banks here Thursday, forcing the evacuation of more than 3,000 homes, causing a railroad bridge to collapse and leaving cars underwater on downtown streets.
Officials estimated that 100 blocks were underwater in Cedar Rapids, where several days of preparation could not hold back the rain-swollen river. Rescuers had to use boats to reach many stranded residents, and people could be seen dragging suitcases up closed highway exit ramps to escape the water.
‘‘We’re just kind of at God’s mercy right now, so hopefully people that never prayed before this, it might be a good time to start,’’ Linn County Sheriff Don Zeller said. ‘‘We’re going to need a lot of prayers and people are going to need a lot of patience and understanding.’’
About 3,200 homes were evacuated and some 8,000 residents displaced, officials estimated.
Days of heavy rain across the state have sent nine rivers across Iowa at or above historic flood levels. Residents were already steeling themselves for floods before storms late Wednesday and early Thursday brought up to 5 inches of rain across west central Iowa.
‘‘We are seeing a historic hydrological event taking place with unprecedented river levels occurring,’’ said Brian Pierce, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Davenport. ‘‘We’re in uncharted territory — this is an event beyond what anybody could even imagine.’’
Gov. Chet Culver has declared 55 of the state’s 99 counties as state disaster areas.
