CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa, June 12, 2008
Thousands Flee As Waters Rise In Iowa
Flood Forces Evacuation Of Hospital; Nearly 100 Blocks Underwater In Cedar Rapids
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Play CBS Video Video Iowa Battles Heavy Rainfall Des Moines, Iowa has learned how to deal with nasty weather, but even a controlled flood is challenging. And, as Dave Price reports, the Des Moines River is still rising.
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Video Deadly Flood Hits Iowa Iowa is getting a taste of the deadly flood waters that ravaged the Midwest all week. While residents in Indiana and Wisconsin are cleaning up, people in Iowa are bracing. Manuel Gallegus reports.
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Video Severe Weather Floods Midwest Flood waters have submerged areas of the Midwest, leading to massive property damage and ruined crops. The cost of corn has skyrocketed and, as Cynthia Bowers reports, it's no surprise.
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Lori Davis Delong, right, gets help from Bob Schulz after her car stalled in a flooded street Thursday, June 12, 2008, in Iowa City, Iowa. Thousands of people had evacuated their homes in Cedar Rapids and Iowa City and Cedar Rapids by Thursday as thunderstorms brought more heavy rain to flood-ravaged Iowa. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson) (AP PHOTO)
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Glen Patton paddles a boat away from his flooded home in the background after removing a final few belongings from his home along the Iowa River Thursday, June 12, 2008, in Iowa City, Iowa. Residents in Patton's neighborhood have received mandatory evacuation notices from the city. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson) (AP PHOTO)
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Photo Essay Cedar Rapids Submerged Thousands evacuated as more than 400 city blocks are under water.
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Interactive Floods & Droughts Discover the destructiveness of floods and droughts, see this year's predictions and get tips on what to do.
Rising water from the river also forced the evacuation of a downtown hospital.
Officials say 176 patients are being evacuated from Mercy Medical Center, including its nursing home facility. Patients started being taken to other hospitals in the region late Thursday night. The evacuation was continuing Friday morning.
Officials estimated that 100 blocks were underwater in Cedar Rapids, reports CBS News correspondent Dean Reynolds, where several days of preparation could not hold back the rain-swollen river. Rescuers had to use boats to reach many stranded residents, and people could be seen dragging suitcases up closed highway exit ramps to escape the water.
"We're just kind of at God's mercy right now, so hopefully people that never prayed before this, it might be a good time to start," Linn County Sheriff Don Zeller said. "We're going to need a lot of prayers and people are going to need a lot of patience and understanding."
Days of heavy rain across the state have sent nine rivers across Iowa at or above historic flood levels. Residents were already steeling themselves for floods before storms late Wednesday and early Thursday brought up to 5 inches of rain across west central Iowa.
And nearly every town on the Mississippi River from Northern Iowa to Southern Missouri has been alerted that the river is at or above flood stage and is posing the worst threat in 15 years, reports Reynolds.
"We are seeing a historic hydrological event taking place with unprecedented river levels occurring," said Brian Pierce, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Davenport. "We're in uncharted territory - this is an event beyond what anybody could even imagine."
Gov. Chet Culver has declared 55 of the state's 99 counties as state disaster areas.
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.
In Des Moines, officials said they were urging residents to evacuate more than 200 homes north of downtown because of concerns that the Des Moines River would top a nearby levee. Some residents also were ordered to evacuate homes along rivers in Iowa City and Coralville.
In Cedar Rapids, a city of about 124,000, flood waters downtown neared the top of stop signs and cars were nearly covered in water. It wasn't clear just how high the river had risen because a flood gauge was swept away by the swirling water.
"It's going door to door to make sure people don't need to be rescued, cause right now they can't get out on their own," said Dave Koch, a spokesman for the Cedar Rapids Fire Department. "It's just too deep."
The surging river caused part of a railroad bridge and about 20 hopper cars loaded with rocks to collapse into the river. The cars had been positioned on the bridge in hopes of weighing it down against the rising water.
"I've never seen anything close to this," Firefighter Mike Cheney told Reynolds. "It's gonna be years before things get back to normal."
Joe Childers, an official at a U.S. Bank in downtown Cedar Rapids, was in jeans and tennis shoes as he worked to move documents and other items upstairs or out of the building.
"We're trying to keep water out of as many places as we can," he said. "It's pretty amazing. I don't think anyone really expected it this far."
Prisoners had to be moved from the Linn County jail, including some inmates who had been transferred from the Benton County jail in Vinton because of flooding. The sheriff's office also was under water, Zeller said.
"We've had to move our operations out of the area and to our alternate emergency site," Zeller said. "We are just trying to regroup. When you don't have all of your equipment and you don't have all your facilities to operate out of - we're at a little bit of a disadvantage ... but we're carrying on as normal."
Several emergency shelters were opened, and the city had closed all but one of its bridges over the Cedar River.
"I believe that this is God's way of doing things, and I've got insurance, so I'm not worried about it," said Tim Grimm, who was forced to leave his home in the city's Czech Village area.
In Austin, Minn., the Cedar River was expected to crest Thursday night at 22 feet, 7 feet above flood stage. The river reached 25 feet in a 2004 flood that caused major damage in the city.
Some businesses and offices were closed because of the flooding, including a Hormel Foods corporate office and its Spam Museum. The city of Austin, however, has bought many properties in the flood plain since the 2004 flood and tore structures down.
"The city has been very proactive and that's going to save them some problems this time," said Mike Welvaert, a weather service meteorologist.
Flooding this week also caused damage across southern Wisconsin, where thunderstorms continued pounding the area on Thursday.
A funnel cloud was reported in Grant County in southwestern Wisconsin, said Chris Kuhlman, a weather service meteorologist. The weather service also said flash floods in the county closed two highways and required rescues, though a sheriff's office dispatcher did not immediately have those details.
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.
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.
© MMVIII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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See all 52 CommentsWhat can we do for those people? Send money to the Red Cross and prayers to God to remember His rainbow covenent.
It is only one storm away from being any of us, isn''''t it? WWJD, jump on blogs and talk bad about Obama, or lend the flood victims a hand?
Posted by AaaBee at 02:35 PM : Jun 13, 2008
Well, Red Cross and United Way have been active in lending a hand. More sad news is bogus emails scams are being sent out for relief already. If you wish to help, PRAYER is always appreciated. Contact your local organizations such as the Red Cross, United Way, etc. and see what they suggest.
It is just a shame to see the hateful remarks and ignorance regarding political figures, southern states, global warming, etc.
Posted by pepper150 at 12:32 PM : Jun 13, 2008
Yeah, sorry. Always personal agendas, never the global view these days.
What can we do for those people? Send money to the Red Cross and prayers to God to remember His rainbow covenent.
It is only one storm away from being any of us, isn''t it? WWJD, jump on blogs and talk bad about Obama, or lend the flood victims a hand?
which is the primary contributor to gaseous emissions.
I think the opening of your mouth may be a primary cause of gaseous emmisions.
One can only hope they don''''t need FEMA like New Orleans did!
They won''tneed to because they followed proper protocol and used their own resources to get people out of harms way. They did not wait around like Ray"schoolbus"Nagin and the Louisiana Governor did, for Federal assistance. Look how governor Barbour took care of the Katrina situation in his state. He acted appropriately using city, county, and state rsources instead of sitting on his hands like the other do nothings, waiting for the Fed''s.
But those facts don''t fit the "Bush is to blame for everthing, even the incompetence of others" agenda.
By your logic idiot, I guess everyone with the last name of JONES should be suspected as Jim Jones'' cult members and maybe you''d better stop them before they cause another "Jonestown" mass suicide
Posted by jamesm12341
Of course they did, and worse, going back further in history there were massive earth quakes, Oregon had active volcanoes that formed Mt Mazama and Crater Lake, there was a meterorite strike in Arizona, at least one in Iowa that blew out a 100 mile dia crater- all violent disasters from different causes.
This planet is ACTIVE below and above, trouble is humans think in terms of 2 weeks, a year, last year, not 50,000 years, 2 million years.
500 years ago a meteorite hitting the Midwest was a non- event, there was no one there save some Indians maybe who would even have been affected, NOW because of human overpopulation a strike like that, massive quake or a volcanic eruption in Oregon or Yellowstone would kill millions.
Posted by koko98"
No, only a MORON would even think any of that has validity, but then again y''all Southerners loved SLAVERY and didn''t want to see it end- y''alls cotton plantations and estates down thar in Geyour-ja needed them blacks to max your PROFITS eh?
You keep thinking President Obama is a ''closet muslim'' and maybe some day y''all will be able to count to FIVE, I hear Sesame Street is coming out with a new show for MORONS like you- it''s a new reality show called LEARN SOMETHING.
I live just 5 minutes away from the flood area and the pictures don%u2019t capture the disaster. Cedar Rapids did an excellent job contacting people by using the reverse 911 system and knocking door to door and riding in boats in the dark to rescue those that did not leave.
Flooding conditions continue throughout the state of Iowa and water-related issues will occur in many communities through the next week or longer.
At this time, we have to help conserve water since the water supply is at a critical level in Cedar Rapids, Hiawatha, and Robins. The Water Department is currently only able to produce water at 25 percent of normal operation. Unless water demand is drastically reduced a water shortage will occur soon. While water usage has decreased today, consumption must be reduced from 16 million gallons per day to 12 million gallons per day in order to avoid shutting off water completely to areas of the city.
My hearts also go out to the people that may not have dealt with the floods, but they still lost their homes due to tornados.
No matter where you call home, it is tragedy when it occurs in your community.
OH.....Wait...... Tsunami in Asia, Hurricane Katrina wipes out the entire Gulf Coast, Cyclone hits Myanmar and devestates the entire region, earthquake in Illinois??? Earthquake in China that will take decades to recover from, hundreds of HUGE tornadoes across the midwest and south, flooding in biblical proportions throughout the country............. NOOOOO........ there''s no evidence of global warming!!! We''ll be fine!!!
I live in Nashville now and would like to have a clothing drive to help those families who will be going home to an empty slab or a house full of mold and debris. If you know of any church groups or non-profits who are accepting donations to directly help those in Iowa please contact me at tripd1970@earthlink.net.
I cannot thank every person in America for donating after Katrina, but if I can return the favor for my fellow countrymen I will do my best. God knows the empathy I have for these people since I have already walked in those shoes.
I would also like to add for anyone who posts mean, hateful things about this or any victims of a disaster.....all I can say is Karma is a b*&$ch. I truly hope with all my heart that she bites you on the butt one day and you are reminded of all your bitter posts.
Have a great day!
Fuzzy Bear we just got out of our homes from the rising flood waters, and we stopped into the public library to get on the internet to read your posting,
what do we do now ?
well thats a good question ?
because you really aren`t in a position to grow crops yet are you ?
what we need to do as a nation is to get you on a tractor as fast as possible,
and I think we should concentrate on flood water crops that do well, I would assume corn, but I don`t think the Department of Agriculture has any type of contingency plan set up, I`m pretty sure they would not have thought of it, what with all the incompitent workers there and all. and the Democrat congress and so on and so forth.
sincerely preparing for the Hurtricane Season, Bear
Fuzzy p.s. when it rains it pours !
The great neocon conspiracy made perfect use of ready and willing terrorists to scare this country into doing away with personal freedoms and to completely de-stabilize the Middle East to raise the world''s oil prices to the brink of worldwide hysteria.
I guess u can say the Great Decider has accomplished his mission that his DAddy Bush first voiced as a "New World Order'' - doesn''t anyone remember that oft use phrase by his father, sounds pretty Nazi doesn''t it? The 911 Terrorists made a perfect smoke screen for his and Cheney''s controllers.
There''s a lot fo history behind this phrase and Daddy Bush was well aware of it. Of course history is something that Bush and Ruppert Murdock don''t want you to know much about.
Fuzzy we know you could have helped us on the Flooding is you weren`t blind sided by the Incompitent people at the National Weather Service,
but what of the future ?
well , thats what we all want a look at isn`t it ?
lets look at the real or possible real consequences of all this flooding,
Crops .
it looks like we have lost Corn, Wheat, Soy,
and numerous malt grains. and they won`t recover in three weeks, it may take years.
so when the supply is low and the demand is high food prices will go out of sight. coupeled with high diesel prices.
so I would close all ports and make an Immediate recall of all farm produce going over seas, especially to Saudi Arabia, and Iraq.
no more food shipments from U.S. ports.
thats what needs to be done immediately.
sincerely with your best interest in mind, Bear
Fuzzy
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