Upper US Midwest flooding forces evacuations, floods roads
Pastor Dale Morgan
Upper US Midwest flooding forces evacuations, floods roads*
By AMY LORENTZEN,
Associated Press Writer
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa - Rising water from the Cedar River forced the
evacuation of a downtown hospital Friday after residents of more than
4,000 homes fled for higher ground. A railroad bridge collapsed, and 400
city blocks were under water.
In Des Moines, 100 miles to the southwest, officials issued a voluntary
evacuation order for much of downtown and other areas bordering the Des
Moines River. Mayor Frank Cownie said the evacuations were an attempt
"to err on the side of citizens and residents."
Des Moines is Iowa's capital and largest city, with about 190,000
residents. But the hardest-hit was Cedar Rapids, a city of 124,000 people.
Gov. Chet Culver declared 83 of the state's 99 counties to be state
disaster areas, and nine rivers were at or above historic flood levels.
Elsewhere in the upper Midwest, rivers and streams tipping their banks
forced evacuations, closed roads, and even threatened drinking water.
The hospital's 176 patients, including about 30 patients in a nursing
home facility at the hospital, were being evacuated to other hospitals
in the region. The evacuation started late Thursday night and continued
Friday morning in the city of 124,000 residents.
"Some are frail and so it's a very delicate process with them," said
Karen Vander Sanden, a hospital spokeswoman.
Water was seeping into the hospital's lower levels, where the emergency
generator is located, said Dustin Hinrichs of the Linn County emergency
operations center.
"They proactively and preventatively started evacuation basically
guessing on the fact they were going to lose power," he said.
Dave Koch, a spokesman for the Cedar Rapids fire department, said the
river will crest Friday at about 31.8 feet. It was at 30.9 feet early in
the morning. In a 1993 flood, considered the worst flood in recent
history, it was at 19.27 feet.
At least 438 city blocks in downtown were under water, Koch said. There
was more flooding outside of downtown, but authorities don't know what
widespread it is.
Flooding also closed Interstate 80 from east of Iowa City to Davenport.
The flooded Cedar River crosses the interstate in Cedar County, about 20
miles east of Iowa City.
No deaths or serious injuries were reported in Iowa, but one man was
killed in southern Minnesota after his car plunged from a washed-out
road into floodwaters. Another person was rescued from a nearby vehicle
in the town of Albert Lea.
Just southeast of Grand Rapids, Mich., crews pulled the body of a
motorist from a car found drifting in the swollen Thornapple River.
State police said they believe the 57-year-old man called on his cell
phone but didn't say what happened or where he was; they found him using
global positioning equipment.
Violent thunderstorms Thursday and Friday brought widespread flooding to
Michigan's Lower Peninsula that authorities say left some roads and
bridges unstable or impassable. Utilities said about 28,000 new power
outages were reported Friday morning, in addition to about 36,000
customers who lost power in earlier storms.
In Wisconsin, amphibious vehicles that carry tourists on the Wisconsin
River were used to evacuate homes and businesses in Baraboo, north of
Madison. Hundreds of people lost power in Avoca, west of Madison, and
were "strongly encouraged" to evacuate because of flooding of the
Wisconsin River and other streams, said Chief Deputy Jon Pepper of the
Iowa County Sheriff's Department.
The rising Fond du Lac River forced hundreds from homes in Fond du Lac.
People in several northern Missouri communities, meanwhile, were piling
up sandbags to prepare for flooding in the Missouri River, expected to
crest over the weekend, and a more significant rise in the Mississippi
River expected Wednesday.
Des Moines officials recommended people leave parts of downtown on
either side of the Des Moines River by 6 p.m. Friday. Included are all
areas in Des Moines' 500-year floodplain.
The alert was prompted by rising river levels expected to peak at 8 p.m.
Friday.
About 300 volunteers and members of the Iowa Army National Guard worked
late Thursday into Friday to shore up a levee showing some soft spots
north of downtown. The levee protects a neighborhood along the river.
Amtrak's California Zephyr line was suspended across Iowa because of
flooding along the BNSF Railway.
Despite all the water in Cedar Rapids, there was precious little for
toilets, cleaning, or drinking.
Koch said the city is at critical levels and only one well was
operating. It was in a flood area protected by sandbags, and generators
were pumping water away. Normally, the city has six or more functioning
wells, he said.
"If we lost that one we would be in serious trouble. Basically we are
using more water than we are producing," he said. "We really need to
reduce the amount of water we are using ... even using paper plates,
hand sanitizer."
Area hotels issued water warnings, including the Marriott Hotel, which
issued a statement imploring guests to cut their usage and use water
only for drinking.
"Any flushing of the toilet, running the sink, or showering should be
kept to a minimum. We understand this is asking a lot, but anyway you
may be able to assist us in this time of crisis would go a long way to
avoid an even greater disaster."
Other Midwestern cities faced similar shortages: Lawrenceville, Ill., a
town of 4,600 people near the Indiana line, grappled for a second day
Thursday with a broken water system that left businesses with no usable
tap water, forcing them to close.