***OFFICIAL 2026 WEATHER THREAD***

[AllInForISU]

North Ames here, my entire basement is flooded, it's going up to the first step of the staircase.

We were trying to get water out with a bucket, but there is just too much, the entire floor is under like a few inches of water (thankfully it didn't overtake the power outlets). Thinking about getting a plumber, but it seems like the city water lines is completely backed up, in which case I'm not sure how much the plumber can help.

Good news is the water level does not seem like it is increasing. And yes we turned off the power for the basement.

Unfortunately a plumber probably won’t do anything for something like this. Storm Sewer lines are totally full, which wouldn’t be an issue if the city still let you just run your sump pit to the curb. But in their infinite wisdom, they decided to force people to run it to the storm sewer which doesn’t help when things like this happen.

 

[cyfan92]

Grateful to have cobwebs in our sump this morning.. praying for you all!

 

[wxman1]

 

[isufbcurt]

Well with another 2.5" of rain last night the lower pond is now over the driveway and the new deck. And we now have standing water in the basement.

 

[Pope]

Spent yesterday trying to dry out mother-in-law's basement in Ankeny. This morning there's even more water.

 

[CyCrazy]

In Boji, had my neighbor check my sump pump, it's still running. Another neighbors pump failed last night. Ugghhh flooded basements suck.

 

[Agclone91]

3.6 in West Ames and thankful we only had 2.4 the night before. We live in a fairly dry neighborhood and have only had water in our sump pit three times since 2020. This is the fastest I've ever seen it pouring in

 

[theshadow]

The gauge on Ioway Creek just north of Stange/13th has gone up 7.5 feet in the last 24 hours.

7/3, 3am - 888.6
7/3, 3pm - 892.2
7/4, 12am - 893.1
7/4, 1:45am - 896.1

Appears to have crept up to just a splash below 900. If that's the same elevation source as the city/county GIS maps, then that's right at the magic number where Veenker starts getting affected.

 

[Pope]

Logic would suggest that with 10+ inches of rain in central Iowa over the last 48 hours, the lawn watering ban might be lifted in Ankeny. However, I'm guessing it won't be because massive amounts of nitrogen have probably been washed into the Raccoon River which serves as the water source for Des Moines Water Works.

 

[Trice]

Logic would suggest that with 10+ inches of rain in central Iowa over the last 48 hours, the lawn watering ban might be lifted in Ankeny. However, I'm guessing it won't be because massive amounts of nitrogen have probably been washed into the Raccoon River which serves as the water source for Des Moines Water Works.

It had been lifted already. https://www.ankenyiowa.gov/m/newsflash/home/detail/462

 

[isufbcurt]

Logic would suggest that with 10+ inches of rain in central Iowa over the last 48 hours, the lawn watering ban might be lifted in Ankeny. However, I'm guessing it won't be because massive amounts of nitrogen have probably been washed into the Raccoon River which serves as the water source for Des Moines Water Works.

If someone thinks they need to water their lawn after all the rain we've gotten they are a high class kind of stupid and/or a narcissist.

 

[Pope]

It had been lifted already. https://www.ankenyiowa.gov/m/newsflash/home/detail/462

My mistake! I see the watering ban was eased to 50% on July 1, right before all the flooding. It will be interesting to see if the increased nitrogen levels will cause them to bring the total ban back.

 

[jcisuclones]

Sump pump struggled to keep up last night in Nevada. Got woken up by our water in the basement alarm that Midwest Basement Systems installed, and found our sump pump had not tripped despite there being an inch of water in that part of the basement. Luckily after kicking it to get it moving again and staying up for two hours, woke up to a dry basement.

 

[snowcraig2.0]

Well with another 2.5" of rain last night the lower pond is now over the driveway and the new deck. And we now have standing water in the basement.

Sorry for the flooding you are experiencing.

On the bright side, it is cool to see all the small ponds that have been nearly dried up over the past years getting full again.

 

[JEFF420]

Looking at Army Corps of Engineers history of flood events along Four Mile creek. Most of the extreme events are in the past 10 years or so. I take that to mean with the growth of Ankeny and surrounding area in the same time, that creek can’t handle the storm sewer runoff that is now part of that watershed. That is a problem.

Urbanization and large totals in short duration = problems

 

[stormchaser2014]

So that storm that came through that I posted caused a lot of damage once it passed by here. The velocity showed a very bright green spot after the rotation broke up. Hundreds of trees were uprooted in the next county over. 3 children drowned on a lake, 5 people, including a couple of motorcyclists, who were caught out on the road, took cover by a barn, but a silo fell on top of them, they weren't killed but obviously seriously injured. Widespread power outages that are gonna last days. Just awful and sad.

 

[cydnote]

So that storm that came through that I posted caused a lot of damage once it passed by here. The velocity showed a very bright green spot after the rotation broke up. Hundreds of trees were uprooted in the next county over. 3 children drowned on a lake, 5 people, including a couple of motorcyclists, who were caught out on the road, took cover by a barn, but a silo fell on top of them, they weren't killed but obviously seriously injured. Widespread power outages that are gonna last days. Just awful and sad.

Sounds like somebody used poor judgement with the kids drowning.
The barn incident reminded me of the song "Ironic" by Alanis Morissette

https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/alanismorissette/ironic.html​

 

[bluestarcyclone]

Looking at Army Corps of Engineers history of flood events along Four Mile creek. Most of the extreme events are in the past 10 years or so. I take that to mean with the growth of Ankeny and surrounding area in the same time, that creek can’t handle the storm sewer runoff that is now part of that watershed. That is a problem.

Its possible. But both this year and 2018 were absolutely torrential rain events as well.

That may be a different problem as one of the changes we've been seeing is more and stronger deluge events which have the potential to overwhelm infrastructure.

 

[Ms3r4ISU]

Appears to have crept up to just a splash below 900. If that's the same elevation source as the city/county GIS maps, then that's right at the magic number where Veenker starts getting affected.

Went by Veenker a short time ago. If by affected you mean the tees (along Stange anyway) are still above water, you’d be correct.