Back to work, More 2008 Flood Pictures

It was hard to return to work after having a four day weekend. It was really nice just relaxing around the house. Really, I couldn’t do much with all the roads blocked and the traffic. I thought it best to just stay out of the way of the people that really needed to get around the city.

It is impossible not to be affected by the flood even when your house and job have been spared the waters. I was happy to see that Rockwell is reducing the water usage as some of the businesses around town. They shut off all the sinks and have put large bottles of hand cleaner for us to use. They even shut off the urinals. Rockwell also announced that they would donate 2 million dollars to the flood relief. They are in the process of getting some kind of program together to allow us to help with some of the clean up that will be needed when the waters go down. I’m hoping that I can help with that.

The number of people from work that I know with flood damage keeps growing. I contacted some of them today to let them know that we are there if they need some help. None of them have been able to get into their homes yet. Daryl is going with a friend of his tomorrow to help with what he can, that is, if she is allowed into her house. It’s just so sad, some of the homes have so much damage that people won’t be allowed to enter the homes.

Someone sent me this link today and I thought I would pass it on. The pictures of the downtown area really show the extent of the flooding.

Andrea Lynn Photography

Who Is Running The City? Cedar Rapids 2008 Flood

Today the water is receding and people are wanting to get into their homes and businesses to see the damage. Tempers are running high as people are realizing that they might not get in as everything has to be inspected for safety first.

The news has been running 24/7 with information about what is going on. Here is a few minutes of Channel 9 News. It shows some of the damage in the downtown area.

The GOOD news is that the water is up to 50% service instead of the 25% that we have been running at. We were in risk of running out of water in a couple of days if the water usage hadn't be reduced. We still need to conserve, but are allowed to flush the toilets and shower now. We are an odd number of house so we can use water on odd number days and then Even numbers homes can use water on even number of days.

We have been very fortunate in our area to only have lost power for a couple of hours and still have had ALL of our services. That is really amazing when you see the damage everywhere in the city. I feel so lucky considering 25,000 people have been displaced and over 4000 homes damaged.

2008 Flood, Cedar Rapids

Yesterday, Daryl and I took a walk downtown to look at the flooding. This is just the East side downtown. They have had much more flooding on the west side of town. We started at Mercy hospital that is on 8th Ave and 10th Street.

Mercy Hospital

Downtown Post Office

4th Ave SE

3rd Ave. Cedar Rapids Art Museum, Green Square Park

Second Ave East . Old Dragon gay bar on the left under water too before the Dublin Pub.

First Ave East. Roosevelt Hotel , US Cellular Center.

US Cellular Center Parking Ramp View.

First Ave East. The building with the three advertising posters on it is the Cedar Rapids Community Theatre. Under water too is the historic Paramount Theatre on 3rd Ave.

South Interstate 380

Quaker Oats plant, North View of the river.