10 Year Anniversary-Eastern Iowa Flood

[VeloClone]

That was 93 wasn’t it?

No, in '90 I was working at a place on Duff and when it flooded I put in my application for ISC. I left on a trip early on the day it ended up flooding in '93 and I debated turning around in Kansas and coming back but I quickly realized that I wasn't going to make a appreciable difference so I enjoyed my vacation and then worked my ass off cleaning up Hilton when I got back.

I still hate Billy Ray Cyrus, by the way.

 

[BCClone]

No, in '90 I was working at a place on Duff and when it flooded I put in my application for ISC. I left on a trip early on the day it ended up flooding in '93 and I debated turning around in Kansas and coming back but I quickly realized that I wasn't going to make a appreciable difference so I enjoyed my vacation and then worked my ass off cleaning up Hilton when I got back.

I still hate Billy Ray Cyrus, by the way.

Ok, I didn’t make ISU until fall of 90 so that’s why I didn’t remember that. Was BRC the first act after the flood? I remember being there but I can’t remembered if before or after. I was heading home from college in 93 when it hit. I moronically drove through water running over a road to get home. I remember the car starting to slide a bit right before crossing over. Saw a car in front of me go, so I followed. When I got back it was scrubbing desks and such, the worst was way gone.

 

[VeloClone]

Ok, I didn’t make ISU until fall of 90 so that’s why I didn’t remember that. Was BRC the first act after the flood? I remember being there but I can’t remembered if before or after. I was heading home from college in 93 when it hit. I moronically drove through water running over a road to get home. I remember the car starting to slide a bit right before crossing over. Saw a car in front of me go, so I followed. When I got back it was scrubbing desks and such, the worst was way gone.

Yeah, Billy Ray was the first show. We had it cleaned up but there was still a lot that hadn't been put back together. Dressing rooms were 4 bare concrete walls, etc. We had all been going like hell for months and were exhausted trying to make the date. We settled up and then Billy Ray wouldn't leave the stage. He thought he was doing everyone a favor by giving everyone more but we were all tired and since we had already settled the building was losing a lot of money for every minute he played longer. You can only listen to some flash in the pan country pop act do cover after cover for so long before you lose it.

 

[wxman1]

The Quad City NWS has put together a pretty good feature on the flood outlining what lead up to it going back to snowfall the previous winter.

https://www.weather.gov/dvn/flood2008

 

[wxman1]

Today marks ten years of the crest in CR.

Here are some good before and after pictures.
http://www.thegazette.com/epic-rebi...pital-10-year-anniversary-2008-flood-06102018

 

[FOREVERTRUE]

It's difficult to look back on the flood and not remember what was lost. My parents lost their home. The home I spent 18 years growing up in. I grew up not far from where the Iowa and Mississippi Rivers meet down in the bottoms below the bluff. It was a difficult time to say the least, but we have all moved on I live in central Iowa and have since before the flood and now my parents live in West Burlington, so all is well, but I can't even take my kids to where I grew up because it is just gone now.

 

[somecyguy]

I worked in downtown CR back then and only ended up there that morning, because power went out at home. I got to my office on 3rd & 3rd and realized how bad it was going to flood, so I called my business partners and told them to get here asap to clear out the office, because we won't be back for a while. It was 6 weeks before we got approval to go back.

The most surreal moment was watching a bus hauling prisoners from the county jail off the island. The bus was struggling to stay in the center crown of the 3rd ave. When he cleared the water, nearly all the exterior panels had been ripped off the bus. To this day, I don't know how it didn't stall or get swept off the bridge.

 

[dmclone]

I grabbed a few pictures of Des Moines back in 2008.