Iowa Flooding

I received this email from my brother today:

The situation is getting bad in Iowa City today, but at least our internet connection is back up. They want sandbagging help at our building on campus, but we are still at home this morning. I’m afraid that if we go to work, we won’t be able to get back across the river later to get home. It sounds like they may have to close the Burlington St bridge, which would leave I-80 as the only remaining way to cross the river. Ellis and Amelia’s daycare/preschool is closing at noon. A couple of teenage girls whose family got evacuated last night are going to stay with us beginning this afternoon. Tonya and I will probably go help somewhere on this side of the river while they watch the kids.

The river is well above the previous record, and is expected to go 3 or more feet higher in the coming days. I don’t think they really know how high it’s going to get, because it’s so unprecedented. My fear is that the huge levees the National Guard was putting up to protect campus are going to make it even worse upstream in Coralville.

Gary

You can keep track of the river status by clicking here.