Columbus Junction, Iowa

flooding in Columbus Junction Iowa

The flood stage for my hometown of Columbus Junction, Iowa is 19 ft. The floodwaters reached 28.3 ft. in 1993. The current prediction is that the flood waters will crest at 33.2 ft. I remember how bad it was in 1993. This is much worse. My parents live out in the country and are at a high enough elevation that they are safe from flooding. My mother told me yesterday that they cannot travel north or east as the roads are closed due to flooding.

Columbus Junction’s Mayor Dan Wilson says they’re trying to save the town’s business district. All the stores in the district were closed Friday afternoon, including the town’s only grocery store, bowling alley, doctor’s office and senior center and child daycare center. All were surrounded by stacks of sandbags. “We’re in uncharted territory,” says Wilson. “We”ve done everything we can.”

via the USA Today

The Economart, Columbus Junction’s grocery store, has the potential to be inundated with up to 4 ft. of water if the levees fail. I used to work there as a teenager. I’ve bowled at the bowling alley. The doctor’s office that is at risk is the clinic that I used to go to when I was growing up in Columbus Junction.

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University of Iowa + flooding

The University of Iowa emergency homepage

The University of Iowa will be closed for at least a week due to flooding in Iowa City. The U of Iowa’s website has been stripped of almost all images and is providing important updates to university students and personnel. The University of Iowa News Services Department is using a combination of Blogger and Flickr to conserve the university’s bandwidth.

For more information, please consult the University of Iowa Flood Information Site hosted on Blogger. Photographs from the U of Iowa’s New Services Dept can be found on the UI News Flickr site. KSUI 91.7 on Iowa Public Radio is providing extensive regional news, flood and emergency updates for Iowa City, Cedar Rapids and other locations in eastern Iowa that are and will be heavily impacted in the coming days by flood waters.

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