Cedar Rapids flooding
- Thread starter Messi
- Start date
Most of the town probably not, but if the NW part of town on the river isn't, why has there been a levee along 1st St NW as long as any of us can remember?
...or where hurricanes consistently hit, or earthquakes, or tornado alley. Isn't easy finding a place to live/work that isn't susceptible to some kind of natural disaster. CR had major flood in '93, '08, and now '16. Three times in nearly 25 years. That's a much better average than hurricanes hitting Florida yet millions decide to live and work there.
KCRG is saying that they believe this is inaccurate. Their models show something closer to 26 feet.
I'm no expert, but I think the Cedar River Basin got 2-3 inches of rain last night. To the east, places got 5 or 6. To the west, places got 4 or 5. I'm guessing the national weather service forecast of 24.1 included the Cedar River Basin getting the heavier amounts (at least I hope they are being cautious).
It will be interesting to see how high Charles City, Waverly, Janesville and Cedar Falls get today and tomorrow. If those come in under the original forecast, then thats probably a good sign for Vinton/Cedar Rapids.
Still going to be a huge mess even if it isn't as high as expected.
It's hard to believe that after all that rain in CR and in the Cedar water basin to the north last night, that the levels would be lower. I hope so, but I'm not optimistic about it.
Bottom line is no one has any idea. I can imagine the models handle a 10-12" rain event 120 miles upstream accurately, then throw in more rain last night, and trying to predict what the storms on Sunday might do. It's a guess at best.
Frankly, I don't think the rain in CR last night has any impact on the flooding Sunday-Tuesday. That water will be gone before the flood water was expected to arrive Sunday.
now, more rain upstream would make a big difference, but I *think* the heavy stuff last night and today is more over the Iowa basin than the Cedar.
They will still have groundwater and tiles flowing into it in a couple days. That's should add to it I would think.
This is correct and great news for the area. I have been following the upstream gauges, and predictions there have been dropping steadily too.
Hopefully this turns out like a few years ago in 2013 where they were predicting a crest of around 22 feet and it ended up in the 18.5 area. Better to be over prepared and have it not happen, than to not prepare and be caught with your pants around your ankles.
The good and bad part of all of the tiling. So much of our agricultural land is heavily tiled now that water in the area is cleared relatively quickly and groundwater levels won't raise like they may have. The bad part is that the tiling north of us is that it causes all of that water to hit the river at once and raises the level higher for a shorter period, rather than "slowly" draining across the surface or seeping into the groundwater.
A hurricane hadn't hit Florida in 10 years prior to Hermine and it's a couple thousand times bigger than the city of CR. So you're comparison is laughable, but carry on.
My best guess is the current plans never get built. The plan they currently have proposes building a large series of permanent and removable flood walls and some earthen levies. It has a price tag of around $630 million which is many times greater than the projected costs of additional flood damage.
I imagine new plans will be developed with a more cost effective option, or downtown property owners will actually need to put some of their own money into it in order to get the extravagant plans built.
seems like they overdo predictions so when people over-prepare. not saying this isn't a big deal but how many times has sever weather been overhyped? it happens all the time.
I remember one hangup where CR wanted to protect both sides of the river and the Gov/Army Corp of Engineers only recommended protecting the east side of the river. Don't know if that was a cause of the delay.
I recall Quaker Oats investing in their own flood protection. I wonder if they completed that or not.
In actuality, there is no connection between the water levels in the Cedar River and the water levels in George Wyth Lake. George Wyth Lake is an abandoned sand/gravel pit that was given to the state. The water in the lake is groundwater and thus the water level is the level of the groundwater aquifer that lies below the area. The lake water level varies with the level of water in the aquifer, not with the level of water in the Cedar River.
In contrast, the Cedar River is fed by surface runoff and it's water level varies according to the amount of rain water that makes it to the stream. The water in the Cedar River and the water in George Wyth Lake are kept separated (as much as possible) as mandated by the Iowa Code. The main reason for this separation is that you do not want contaminated surface runoff water to pollute your groundwater aquifer.
Retired Iowa DNR Flood Plain Engineer and former City of Cedar Falls Assistant City Engineer.
Since 1993:
7 major hurricanes have hit florida (Cat 3 or higher)
I didn't bother to count minor hurricanes or tropical storms.
Clarksville levee gave way, probably some relief for towns downstream. Sounds like Ames is getting pounded, not good for tailgating this weekend.
Who gives a s*** about tailgating this weekend? Come on man, my city is about to get destroyed for the second time in 8 years. Have some perspective and some respect.
