Iowa floods recede but threat persists

More storms are forecast in region

Buildings and debris were seen floating yesterday in the Cedar River against a railroad bridge in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. (Jeff Roberson/Associated Press)

DES MOINES - Flood waters broke through an aging levee yesterday, swallowing a section of the city's northeast side where authorities had evacuated about 200 homes and 35 businesses, as severe flooding continued to plague the state and other parts of the Midwest.

The rising Des Moines River pushed through a clay levee in an industrial area at about 3:15 a.m. City officials had feared that the barrier would fail and immediately began constructing a 2,000-foot-long sand berm to protect the adjacent Birdland Park residential neighborhood.

But water broke through the berm about 7 a.m., forcing the half-dozen residents who had not complied with Wednesday's voluntary evacuation order to leave.

The water swamped much of North High School, which sits along the river, and rose to just inches below traffic lights. Police cordoned off the area and kept homeowners out.

City administrators offered free tetanus shots and warned residents of the risk of infection from contact with the water.

No injuries or fatalities were reported. Residents and officials said the city was well prepared for this disaster because of improvements and readiness plans made after the historic Midwest flood of 1993.

In Cedar Rapids, authorities raised the number of evacuees to 24,000 and said it will be days before business owners and residents can return to check on their property. The Cedar River, which crested Friday at 31 feet, had receded 4 feet by yesterday afternoon, but severe thunderstorms jeopardized efforts to assess the safety of flooded buildings.

The city of 120,000 was functioning with just 25 percent of its normal water supply because several city wells were submerged, said Troy Price, communications director for Governor Chet Culver.

"Cedar Rapidians are being encouraged to conserve water," he said.

Law enforcement and Iowa National Guard members spent yesterday setting up checkpoints around the perimeter of the flooded area, which covered more than 1,000 city blocks. The river cut through the heart of downtown and submerged commercial and industrial areas.

Mike Goldberg, a spokesman for Linn County Emergency Management, said that the receding water is good news for Cedar Rapids but that the city faces another phase of the disaster as authorities try to keep business owners and residents from returning to an unsafe area.

"You've got hazards everywhere," Goldberg said. "A manhole cover blown off and you don't see it, and you go 10 feet down. We've got contaminants in the water, chemicals in the water."

Goldberg said building inspectors and fire-hazard material teams were starting to enter the flooded downtown to assess damage.

The University of Iowa in Iowa City canceled summer classes for at least a week as numerous campus buildings took on water. According to Steve Parrott, director of university relations, school officials will reassess the situation tomorrow or Tuesday, when the Iowa River is expected to crest.

The University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, the largest hospital in the state, was functioning. The school's art museum was completely inundated with water, Parrott said, but many of the valuable pieces - including works by Pablo Picasso and Jackson Pollock - had been removed in anticipation of the rising river.

Iowa City's mayor announced an overnight curfew to keep people at least 100 yards from the rushing river, which contained raw sewage and other hazards.

Interstate 80, the major east-west artery across the region, was closed for miles in and out of Iowa City, requiring detours hundreds of miles long.

In Des Moines, Bill Stowe, the public works director, said the city had been seeking federal approval to reconstruct the levee that broke as part of a citywide overhaul of levees since Hurricane Katrina. "The Birdland levee was built in the 1950s and is not at the standards we'd see today," Stowe said.

Mayor Frank Cownie said officials did "everything we could over the last few days to shore up that levee, but Mother Nature found a weak spot and took it out."

One evacuee, retired sheriff Bert Smith, sat in a lawn chair at his neighbor's, enjoying the sunshine and staring across the street at his house, which he was barred from entering.

"My wife took the five cats to the south side and my son went to work," said Smith, 68, describing the early-morning evacuation. "I just came over here, and they won't even let me check on things."

But he and neighbor Mike Sheil, a union construction worker, had no complaints.

"From the volunteers to the city, they've done a great job," said Sheil, 55. "In 1993 we had no warning. This time they were ready."

Two blocks away, Ed Hutson surveyed the river from behind a police line, judging the chances of flood damage to his 73-year-old mother's home. She was evacuated yesterday morning, but it appeared that her house would stay dry.

The Des Moines and Raccoon rivers in Des Moines have crested, and flooding is expected to recede.

But other Iowa and Illinois cities and towns are still gearing up for the worst. Flood waters continued to flow down tributaries and the Mississippi River, and more storms are expected today.