Jubilee21
June 13th, 2008, 12:59 AM
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/app...12026/-1/ENT05
Cedar Rapids hard-hit; thousands lack power, 911 is down
By William Petroski, Tom Barton and Grant Schulte • wpetroski@dmreg.com • June 12, 2008
Heavy rain is pounding the city now.
Power is out indefinitely in some areas. The county's 911 service does not work. A railroad bridge completely collapsed.
The entire downtown is submerged in several feet of water that looks about 5 to 6 feet deep. Dozens of cars spotted from atop the Interstate Highway 380 bridge are covered up to their roofs with water. City officials have since ordered the I-380 bridge closed. There was a mandatory evacuation Wednesday and today.
Approximately 3,200 residential addresses in Cedar Rapids are flooded along the city's 500-year flood plain. The total area represents roughly 100 city blocks, said Mike Goldberg, public information officer with Linn County.
"Our rough estimate is 9,000 people are displaced because of evacuation," he said.
Bridge collapses
A downtown railroad bridge that spans over the Cedar River collapsed at 9:43 a.m.
The bridge was loaded with 18 gravel-filled cars in an effort to weigh it down against the rising river, said Jeff Woods, a spokesman for the Cedar Rapids and Iowa City Railway Company. No injuries were reported.
"There's nothing left to see" of the bridge, Woods said.
All interstate exits to downtown Cedar Rapids are closed, and traffic has slowed to about 20 mph. Emergency 911 services were knocked out briefly this morning but restored less than an hour later, the city announced on its Web site.
Linn County and Cedar Rapids emergency management officials this morning said the city lost 911 communications capabilities around 10 a.m. and are trying to reroute calls to the Marion Police Department.
Jail evacuated
The Linn County Jail in Cedar Rapids evacuated more than 400 inmates today to state prisons in other counties because of flooding on the Cedar River.
About 385 male inmates were split into two groups and transported to state prisons at Oakdale and Anamosa. Another 48 female prisoners were transferred to the state women's prison at Mitchellville, said Iowa prison spokesman Fred Scaletta.
Some of the county jail inmates will be housed in regular prison cells, where possible, but many will be required to sleep on mattresses on the floors of prison gymnasiums, Scaletta said.
The county inmates will be supervised by Linn County jailers, who will be assisted by state correctional officers, Scaletta said.
"This is an emergency and everybody has to step up and help each other," Scaletta said. "It's about public safety, so the main thing is to keep them secure." Efforts will be made to segregate the Linn County inmates from the state's regular prison population because some of the county prisoners have not been convicted of crimes, Scaletta said.
Power is out
Approximately 23,000 Alliant Energy customers are without power in Cedar Rapids in what energy and emergency management officials are calling a 500-year flood.
As of 9:30 am, today, all of Cedar Rapids downtown is without power. Alliant Energy's Sixth Street power plant had to be shut down and evacuated.
Customers without power in the 500-year flood plain will be without power indefinitely.
An additional 3,000 Alliant Energy customers spread throughout the state are without power.
Vern Gebhart, vice president of operations for Alliant, said the company is trying to bring in mobile substations to replace generation from the flooded substation, but are being hampered by flooded roadways.
"They are having difficulty getting here because so many roadways are closed," he said.
Gebhart said Alliant does not have plans to bring in crews from out of state to help with power restoration efforts.
"We have enough boots on the ground," he said. "We just need to get these pieces of equipment."
Gebhart said employees have been throwing around the phrase, "We like the water when it's hard better," referencing the February and March 2007 ice storms and subsequent blizzard that left one-third of Iowa's electric customers without power during the ice storms and subsequent blizzard, leading to some shutdowns of telephone service. More than 13,000 utility poles have had to be replaced statewide.
"I've been with the company 33 years and this has outdone the ice storm from 2007," Gebhart said. "The ice storm was bad but they like the flooding less.
We've lost so much equipment due to the flood water. The crews haven't seen an instance like this before. They have not had to deal with a flood of this magnitude before. We've had people working almost round-the-clock since Thursday (June 5)."
He said about 600 Alliant Energy employees are in Cedar Rapids, working 14-hour shifts * some of whom live in homes that were evacuated.
"It's huge," Gebhart said of the areas under water. "It's devastating. Our hearts go out to the homes and business suffering property loses. They're rescuing people in boats in Cedar Rapids right now. It's like watching the Hurricane Katrina videos on TV. Everything is submerged."
More rain coming
And it's only going to get worse.
The National Weather Service in Davenport is forecasting more storms this afternoon and into the night, which could produce an additional one to two inches of rain expected in the next several hours.
A flash flood warning was in effect for Linn and Benton counties until about 6:30 p.m..
Heavy rainfall from thunderstorms moving over southeastern Benton County are expected to bring up to an inch of rain an hour. Locations in the warning include but are not limited to Urbana, Shellsburg, Mount Auburn and Garrison. In Linn County, the warning includes Cedar Rapids, Palo, Whittier, Waubeek, Walker, Viola, Troy Mills, Toddville, Robins, Prairieburg, Paris, Coggon, Central City, Center Point and Alburnett.
Am leaving this as a thread here to monitor the dmage done and how the cost of corn and soy beans will affect the market..praying for all the folks out there affected by this and the loss of loved ones as well as their homes and communities:pray Stay safe!!
Cedar Rapids hard-hit; thousands lack power, 911 is down
By William Petroski, Tom Barton and Grant Schulte • wpetroski@dmreg.com • June 12, 2008
Heavy rain is pounding the city now.
Power is out indefinitely in some areas. The county's 911 service does not work. A railroad bridge completely collapsed.
The entire downtown is submerged in several feet of water that looks about 5 to 6 feet deep. Dozens of cars spotted from atop the Interstate Highway 380 bridge are covered up to their roofs with water. City officials have since ordered the I-380 bridge closed. There was a mandatory evacuation Wednesday and today.
Approximately 3,200 residential addresses in Cedar Rapids are flooded along the city's 500-year flood plain. The total area represents roughly 100 city blocks, said Mike Goldberg, public information officer with Linn County.
"Our rough estimate is 9,000 people are displaced because of evacuation," he said.
Bridge collapses
A downtown railroad bridge that spans over the Cedar River collapsed at 9:43 a.m.
The bridge was loaded with 18 gravel-filled cars in an effort to weigh it down against the rising river, said Jeff Woods, a spokesman for the Cedar Rapids and Iowa City Railway Company. No injuries were reported.
"There's nothing left to see" of the bridge, Woods said.
All interstate exits to downtown Cedar Rapids are closed, and traffic has slowed to about 20 mph. Emergency 911 services were knocked out briefly this morning but restored less than an hour later, the city announced on its Web site.
Linn County and Cedar Rapids emergency management officials this morning said the city lost 911 communications capabilities around 10 a.m. and are trying to reroute calls to the Marion Police Department.
Jail evacuated
The Linn County Jail in Cedar Rapids evacuated more than 400 inmates today to state prisons in other counties because of flooding on the Cedar River.
About 385 male inmates were split into two groups and transported to state prisons at Oakdale and Anamosa. Another 48 female prisoners were transferred to the state women's prison at Mitchellville, said Iowa prison spokesman Fred Scaletta.
Some of the county jail inmates will be housed in regular prison cells, where possible, but many will be required to sleep on mattresses on the floors of prison gymnasiums, Scaletta said.
The county inmates will be supervised by Linn County jailers, who will be assisted by state correctional officers, Scaletta said.
"This is an emergency and everybody has to step up and help each other," Scaletta said. "It's about public safety, so the main thing is to keep them secure." Efforts will be made to segregate the Linn County inmates from the state's regular prison population because some of the county prisoners have not been convicted of crimes, Scaletta said.
Power is out
Approximately 23,000 Alliant Energy customers are without power in Cedar Rapids in what energy and emergency management officials are calling a 500-year flood.
As of 9:30 am, today, all of Cedar Rapids downtown is without power. Alliant Energy's Sixth Street power plant had to be shut down and evacuated.
Customers without power in the 500-year flood plain will be without power indefinitely.
An additional 3,000 Alliant Energy customers spread throughout the state are without power.
Vern Gebhart, vice president of operations for Alliant, said the company is trying to bring in mobile substations to replace generation from the flooded substation, but are being hampered by flooded roadways.
"They are having difficulty getting here because so many roadways are closed," he said.
Gebhart said Alliant does not have plans to bring in crews from out of state to help with power restoration efforts.
"We have enough boots on the ground," he said. "We just need to get these pieces of equipment."
Gebhart said employees have been throwing around the phrase, "We like the water when it's hard better," referencing the February and March 2007 ice storms and subsequent blizzard that left one-third of Iowa's electric customers without power during the ice storms and subsequent blizzard, leading to some shutdowns of telephone service. More than 13,000 utility poles have had to be replaced statewide.
"I've been with the company 33 years and this has outdone the ice storm from 2007," Gebhart said. "The ice storm was bad but they like the flooding less.
We've lost so much equipment due to the flood water. The crews haven't seen an instance like this before. They have not had to deal with a flood of this magnitude before. We've had people working almost round-the-clock since Thursday (June 5)."
He said about 600 Alliant Energy employees are in Cedar Rapids, working 14-hour shifts * some of whom live in homes that were evacuated.
"It's huge," Gebhart said of the areas under water. "It's devastating. Our hearts go out to the homes and business suffering property loses. They're rescuing people in boats in Cedar Rapids right now. It's like watching the Hurricane Katrina videos on TV. Everything is submerged."
More rain coming
And it's only going to get worse.
The National Weather Service in Davenport is forecasting more storms this afternoon and into the night, which could produce an additional one to two inches of rain expected in the next several hours.
A flash flood warning was in effect for Linn and Benton counties until about 6:30 p.m..
Heavy rainfall from thunderstorms moving over southeastern Benton County are expected to bring up to an inch of rain an hour. Locations in the warning include but are not limited to Urbana, Shellsburg, Mount Auburn and Garrison. In Linn County, the warning includes Cedar Rapids, Palo, Whittier, Waubeek, Walker, Viola, Troy Mills, Toddville, Robins, Prairieburg, Paris, Coggon, Central City, Center Point and Alburnett.
Am leaving this as a thread here to monitor the dmage done and how the cost of corn and soy beans will affect the market..praying for all the folks out there affected by this and the loss of loved ones as well as their homes and communities:pray Stay safe!!