Photos + Flooding + Columbus Junction

flooding in Columbus Junction Iowa

The Des Moines Register posted photographs of flooding in Columbus Junction today:

Columbus Junction Iowa flooding photo

flooding photo in Columbus Junction Iowa 2008

Saturday afternoon the water began coming through the levee, which holds up railroad tracks in Columbus Junction. By Sunday morning, the lowest part of the downtown area was inundated, with water as high as nine feet in some buildings, and four to five feet in many others.

Up to half the downtown businesses in Columbus Junction are affected in the town of about 2,000 people.

Residents and volunteers from the surrounding area began working Tuesday to reinforce earthen levees with sand and sandbags, hoping the little town downstream from Cedar Rapids and Iowa City could survive the deluge that hit those bigger cities up north.

“I think we filled close to 100,000 sandbags in four days,” Wilson said. “We had 30 to 40 sand trucks running constantly for four days straight.”

via the Des Moines Register and the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier

4 thoughts on “Photos + Flooding + Columbus Junction”

  1. Thank you for updating about CJ. It has been such a painful time to watch and wait for the water to hit. Even though I haven’t been in CJ for about 10 years now it still near to my heart. I was just trying to picture tonight how much of the town was under water. Hopefully the waters receed quickly and the massive clean up efforts can begin.

    Amanda (Beebe) Payne
    CCHS class of 97

  2. I too have been tuning into your site to view any updates. I am in northeast Iowa and it seems as soon as CR and IC were hit and it’s receding now, every other town down stream has been forgotten. I haven’t been in CJ for about twice as long as Amanda but it will always be my hometown also.

    Jodi (Plecker) Ehlers
    CCHS Class of 88

  3. Thanks for the CJ photos…my hometown. I helped sandbag during the flood of ’93, but that was obviously nothing compared to what is going on now. My parents are still there so I am getting daily updates, but these photos really provide perspective. Thanks.

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