Posted on June 23, 2008 by Matt Hacker
The Flood of 2008 has damaged many homes, businesses, and farm land.
Craig Lang, president of the Iowa Farm Bureau Federation, said $3 billion worth of corn and soybean acres were lost to record floodwaters while the farm-sector devastation is costing livestock producers another $500 million in “feed impacts losses” with corn prices spiking $1.50 per bushel above pre-disaster levels.
To view this article from GazetteOnline.com in its entirety, click here.
Filed under: Agriculture, Flooding/Storms | Tagged: Agriculture, American Farm Bureau Federation, Beans, Corn, Craig Lang, Crop Damage, Farm, Field Crops, Flood of 2008, Iowa, Iowa Farm Bureau Federation, Livestock, Soy Beans | No Comments »
Posted on June 19, 2008 by Matt Hacker
As the streets of Cedar Rapids start to get cleaned up, one can only ask themselves, how long is this going to take? Well I think that is a question that is weighing on everyone’s mind, but nobody has an answer for it.
The now displaced and disfunctional downtown area of Cedar Rapids, IA is going to take months, heck, probably years to clean up and rebuild. The clean up process in the downtown area is going a lot better and moving faster then what I thought it would. Owners of small businesses are cleaning out their once flourishing businesses while larger companies are having some of their employees to come in and help with the clean up effort.
Companies are already talking about the rebuilding process and are hopeful to get their businesses up and running as soon as they possibly can. As far as some of the people who worked downtown, or in other flooded areas of Cedar Rapids, they are jobless. GazetteOnline.com wrote an article saying that there are approximately 6,000-7,000 people in Cedar Rapids now jobless because of this flood. The big question is, what and where will they find a job???
Today President Bush is going to be touring the Cedar Rapids and Iowa City areas. Bush is going to be talking with both cities officials about the multi-billion dollar clean up that is in store for these two cities.
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Filed under: Flooding/Storms, Iowa, Weather | Tagged: Cedar Rapids, Cedar Rapids Iowa, Cedar River, Clean Up, Disfunctional, Displaced, Drinking water, Flood, Flood of 2008, GazetteOnline.com, George W. Bush, Iowa, Iowa City, Jobless, Jobs, President Bush, Rebuild, Smulekoffs | No Comments »
Posted on June 17, 2008 by Matt Hacker
I went downtown this morning in Cedar Rapids, IA before I went to work and took some pictures of the downtown area after the flood waters have receded. It is bad…very bad. After being down there this morning, I can say that it is going to take a very long time to get downtown cleaned up. The Cedar River pretty much completely demolished the downtown area. Below you will find all the photos that I took this morning. Everyone braces themselves, some of these pictures are pretty sad…
I hope that you all enjoyed these photos. Like I said before, it is going to take a long time to get the downtown area cleaned up, but we will get there. WE WILL SURVIVE!!!!!
Filed under: Flooding/Storms, Iowa, Weather | Tagged: Iowa, Cedar Rapids, Flood, Cedar River, Cedar Rapids Iowa, Flood of 2008, Flooding Pictures, Bridge, Bricks, Greensquare Park, Skyblade Monument, Cedar Rapids Art Museum, Kubias Building, Post Office, Bankers Trust, Town Centre, Paramount Theatre, Smulekoffs, Hummer, Military Police, Dirt, Legends, CityStyle, United Life Insurance, United Fire and Casualty, Blue Strawberry, Car, Volume, 2nd St, 3rd St, 1st St, 3rd Ave, 2nd Ave, 1st Ave, 4th Ave, Plaza, Playground, Hach Brothers, Iowa Title Company, Miller Lite, Sandbags | 3 Comments »
Posted on June 16, 2008 by Matt Hacker
The water is going down in Cedar Rapids, IA after the largest flood in the state’s history. You can now see
the three downtown bridges above water rather than them being completely under water. Driving on I380 this morning, going to work, I could not believe my eyes when I looked towards the bridges and the streets of downtown. There is debris everywhere, and I mean EVERYWHERE!!!!! There are huge logs, railroad ties, bricks, glass, peoples personal belongings, household items, displaced cars, displaced homes, and much much more scattered all over downtown. The picture to the right shows a glimpse of what downtown Cedar Rapids looks like. This photo came from GazetteOnline.com. I think that it is going to take quite awhile for Cedar Rapids to get cleaned up. But as this city has done throughout this whole process, I am sure that everyone will come together and help each other out with the clean up efforts.
Click here to look at more pictures that were taken Sunday 6/15/08 of downtown Cedar Rapids.
Click here to look at pictures of tenants returning to their homes but only for a short period of time. Tenants were only given about 10 minutes to grab what they can carry out of their homes on Sunday 6/15/08. Displaced tenants thought that they would be able to get back into their homes today, Monday 6/16/08, but now the City of Cedar Rapids is not letting that happen. The homes are too dangerous for their owners to enter and all homes have to be checked out before people can re-enter them.
You may also click on any of the below links to look at any pictures from beginning to end of the Flood of 2008. All photos that you will see in the below links come from GazetteOnline.com.
Filed under: Flooding/Storms, Iowa, Weather | Tagged: Bricks, Cedar Rapids, Cedar Rapids Iowa, Cedar Rapids Gazette, Cedar River, Debris, Displaced Cars, Displaced Homes, Downtown Cedar Rapids, Flood of 2008, Flooding, Flooding Pictures, GazetteOnline.com, Glass, Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa River, Linn County, Logs, Railroad Ties, University of Iowa, Water | No Comments »
Posted on June 13, 2008 by Matt Hacker
Here is an article from GazetteOnline.com talking about the closure of part of I380 tonight at 6pm and also other area roads closures.
The Interstate 380 bridge over the Iowa River will be closed by 6 p.m., forcing the road to close between the North Liberty and Swisher interchanges.
The water is already approaching the roadway and the road may need to be closed sooner. Anyone who needs to use the road for an evacuation should do so immediately.
The closure will last for a week as water will cover lanes in both directions, officials said.
Other closures
Cedar Rapids
All streets within 500 year flood plain are closed. Interstate 380 bridge is the only way to cross the river (left lane restriction remains in effect). All downtown ramps remain closed. In addition, the northbound exit at Diagonal Drive and southbound exit at H Avenue are closed.
Iowa City
Interstate 80: Southbound Dubuque Street interchange in Johnson County is closed.
Rocky Shore Drive: Closed between Highway 6 and Park Road.
Park Road: Closed between Dubuque Street and Rocky Shore Drive.
Dubuque Street: Closed between Interstate 80 and Park Road.
Highway 6: Closed between Highway 1 and Gilbert Street.
Coralville
Highway 6: Closed between Sixth Avenue to Rocky Shore Drive due to rising flood water.
First Avenue: Closed between Fifth Street and Iowa Interstate railroad bridge south of Highway 6. First Avenue is available to local traffic between Fifth Street to Sixth Street.
First Street: 100 block of First Street closed.
Fifth Street: Closed between First and Third Avenues.; Open to local traffic only between Third and Fifth avenues.
Fourth Avenue: Highway 6 to Fifth Street closed.
Edgewater Dr.: Road closed; Shadow Lane also closed.
Linn County
Highway 30: Closed in both directions between Interstate 380 and Highway 1 in Mount Vernon.
Highway 1: Road closed between Highway 30 to Solon due to flooding
Highway 13 (Highway 151): Closed just north of Highway 30 to Mount Vernon Road.
Highway 151: Road closed between Iowa 220 and Highway 6 between Amana and Homestead.
Johnson County
Black Hawk Ave: Closed south of Black Diamond Rd (Old Man’s Creek)
Black Diamond Rd: Closed west of 450th St SW (Old Man’s Creek)
Hoosier Creek Rd: Closed between Naples and Ely Rd NE
Naples Ave.: Closed between 120th Street and Hoosier Creek Rd
Cemetery Rd NW: Closed between 250th and Grabin Road
Sandy Beach Rd.: Closed east of campground to just south of 3413
140th Street: Closed between Ely Road and Naples Ave NE
Sand Road: Closed between 560th and 580th SE; 580th and Highway 22
River Junction Rd.: Closed between Sioux Ave and Otter Creek Rd.
Grabin Road: Closed between Alpine and Cemetery Rd
Blain Cemetery Rd.: Closed between Amana Rd and Seneca Rd NW
Izaak Walton Rd.: Closed from Oak Crest Hill Rd
Amana Road: Closed between Hwy 965 and Greencastle Ave NW; closed between Falcon Ave. and Greencastle Ave. NW; Dupont Way and Baxter Ave. NW
Chambers Ave NW: Closed between 140th and Amana
Tri-County Bridge Rd SE: Closed between Iowa River and 670th Street
560th Street: Closed between Sand Road and Sioux Ave
Taft Ave Speedway: Closed west of Dubuque St.
N Madison St.: Closed north of W. Market St.
Derby Avenue: Closed between Plotz Road and Amana Rd NW
Swan Lake Road: Closed between Half Moon Ave and James Ave NW
Swan Lake Ave. Closed between Half Moon Ave. and James Ave.
Half Moon Ave.: Half-mile portion south of Swan Lake Rd NW closed
Sutliff Road: Closed between Vega Rd. and Lisbon Rd.
Lisbon Road: Closed between Sutliff Rd. and Johnson County line.
White Oak Ave. NE: Closed at intersections of 145th St. and 120th Street
Additional road closure information available online at: www.johnson-county.com/website/roadclosings/viewer.htm
Other areas
Interstate 80: East and westbound lanes of I-80 are closed at milepost 266 (west of Iowa 38 interchange) because of water over the roadway. Local traffic will be allowed, except for at milepost 266. Traffic going across Iowa should detour at U.S. 61 north to Highway 20 west to Interstate 35.
Highway 22: Reduced to one-lane traffic at this time from Iowa 923 to Iowa River due to flooding. Floodwater is rising at this point and roadway is expected to close. Washington County Sheriff reports the bridge will likely close by noon today.
Iowa 22 is reduced to one-lane traffic at this time from Iowa 923 to Iowa River due to flooding.
Highway 63 south of Tama: Closed because of Iowa River flooding.
Need help with a route?
The Iowa Department of Transportation temporary service line is open until 9 p.m. Friday. Call (866) 452-8510.
Visit the Iowa Department of Transportation website at: http://www.dot.state.ia.us/
Filed under: Flooding/Storms, Iowa, Weather | Tagged: Cedar Rapids, Coralville, GazetteOnline, GazetteOnline.com, Highway 1, Highway 151, Highway 22, Highway 30, Highway 6, I380, IDOT, Interstate 380, Iowa City, Iowa Department of Transportation, Iowa River, Johnson County, Linn County, North Liberty, Park Avenue, Swisher, Tama | No Comments »
The Flood of 2008 has damaged many homes, businesses, and farm land.
