Cedar Rapids flooding

Omaha Cy

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Sep 1, 2007
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Richmond, VA has one of the more elaborate flood wall systems I've ever seen, complete with retractable gates at a number of crossings. Most areas of the flood wall are park like settings, and some with walkways across the top of the flood walls. Google "Richmond Flood Wall" and you'll see some good pictures of the gates.

Interesting story there. City gets hammered seemingly every 10 years with a massive flood. They build the flood wall and 20+ years later it's yet to be used.
 
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TXCyclones

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Interesting story there. City gets hammered seemingly every 10 years with a massive flood. They build the flood wall and 20+ years later it's yet to be used.

Yeah, craziest issue there was a freak torrential rain caused by Hurricane Gaston that dumped 15" of rain over the city and the walls held the water IN, which flooded the historic Shockoe Bottom district.
 
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ISUAlum05

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Cedar Rapids, IA
Yup that was the last one open until H/J or really 32nd/Glass.

I did hear a good discussion that the 100 extension to 30 on the west side would have greatly helped with traffic congestion in both floods. I keep forgetting about that.
Yeah, that's pretty much the reason for it. Another way across the river.
 

ISUAlum05

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Cedar Rapids, IA
Amazing how the USPS was able to continue running their trucks and deliver mail during the floods, but the CR school district couldn't figure out how to run the buses.
Lol, what? Many families were evacuated from their homes. The bus barn was under water. There was at least one school that was sandbagged. And we did not need any extra traffic out there. Cancelling school absolutely made sense.
 

no2cyclones

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Yup that was the last one open until H/J or really 32nd/Glass.

I did hear a good discussion that the 100 extension to 30 on the west side would have greatly helped with traffic congestion in both floods. I keep forgetting about that.

Any other way of crossing would be fantastic. Getting from Mercy downtown to 380 via the 8th Street on-ramp has taken ~45 minutes during rush hour at the end of the workday this week.
 

Jambalaya

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Living through that catastrophe in 2008, CR dodged a tremendous bullet in 2016. I would compare this round of floods and its' damage at around .01% vs 2008.

The Paramount Theater, for example, is one building downtown but went through a $35 million remodel after 2008. This week? I'm not sure it took on 1 drop of water, unless they find a basement drain backing up.
 
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ISUAlum05

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Cedar Rapids, IA
Any other way of crossing would be fantastic. Getting from Mercy downtown to 380 via the 8th Street on-ramp has taken ~45 minutes during rush hour at the end of the workday this week.
My husband's solution has been to just stay at work later. Between 4 and 6, 380 is a cluster. At 7, there are no issues. His shop is in the Oakland Rd NE area, and we live on the SW side, near Fairfax.
 

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