26 June 2008

Our Story - 2008 Flood of Iowa City (from ASK)


It has been a terrible time these last few weeks, but the flood waters are finally receding and residents are starting to view the damage. As I mentioned in one of my first blogs about the flood, we helped some friends of ours escape the flood waters. Here is the wife's account of those days...


Hi Everyone,

Below is a summary of the events that have transpired over the past couple weeks. It is mostly a blur!!! All in all, we are VERY lucky. We are all safe (family & cat included). We had warning to get our “important” stuff out. We only rent (sorry Bev). And we were going to buy a house this year anyway! Now we’re just jumping that ahead a bit…

Currently we are safe, sound, and dry in a 2 bedroom condo up in North Liberty. It works for now and even has a garage to store some of our stuff. Plus we have our own washer/dryer which is a must with an 8 month old!
J They were willing to do month-to-month lease which works perfect for our current situation.

Hope this finds everyone doing well. Love you all – ASK

Thursday June 5th – Sandbagging started in our neighborhood (one of the hardest hit in IC back in ’93). It was thought, at the time, to use ’93 as a guideline for where to sandbag. I had a rather unique perspective seeing things from the public works end as well as the personal end.

Saturday/Sunday June 7-8th – Adam and I took turns sandbagging the houses along the river in our neighborhood and babysitting Katelyn. (BTW: Katelyn decided to roll from her back to her tummy for the first time as I was sandbagging the intake at the corner of Manor/Normandy in our neighborhood. Adam was nice enough to text message me!!!) Our landlords explained we were safe in ’93 and they just didn’t have vehicular access. So, we bought a little red wagon (radio flyer) to haul things up the back hill and stocked up on groceries b/c one thing was for certain – our only entrance was most likely going to be under water for awhile.

Monday June 9th – Again, we took turns sandbagging. Adam was supposed to start his new job at Optherion on this day, but I guess it worked out better that he started the following Monday! Still, we were hearing to use ’93 as a guideline with rumors of higher elevations. Little did we know, it would be our last night at 721 Manor Drive.

Tuesday June 10th – Predictions were starting to climb with possibilities of ’93 levels and above. Since our sump pump was running frequently, I was afraid we might loose electricity and get water in the basement. A lot of great friends helped us move things from the basement to the top level. A couple hours later, we called them back and moved some of our “important” stuff to friends’ places – just in case.

Wednesday June 11th – Predictions are continuing to get worse and my coworkers are encouraging me to get my stuff out. From what the Corp is predicting – we both agree… Adam and I get lucky and rent the last U-haul available. Again – we rely on fabulous friends to help us pack, move & store our stuff. We stayed with Adam’s professor’s family for which we will always be grateful. (They were probably happy to get rid of us, but actually I miss them now!) After using the U-haul, we loaned it to a neighbor who accidently hit another car with it – everyone was okay and from what we’ve heard from insurance agents, he’ll take care of everything! (Good grief! He was able to save his important stuff, however, so all was worth it and we would do it again anyway!)

Thursday June 12th – We returned to the house to get KC and grab a few final items. I emptied out the contents of our fridge – freshly stocked only a few days earlier. We made use of the Radio flyer wagon since we didn’t want to get our cars stuck down there. Good thing we did. Normandy Drive (along the river) had been evacuated late Wednesday/early Thursday and the sandbags around the entrance intakes blew late Thursday morning. Community Service representatives knocked on our door around noon and said we had 30 minutes to get out – mandatory evacuation! We packed our stuff, grabbed our cat, and traveled up the back way out of our neighborhood along side our landlord Bev and her son Trey. Very surreal! There were vehicles that got stuck in the neighborhood.

Friday June 13th/Sunday June 15th – We happily traveled up to NE Iowa to see April get married!!! My little sister… It was a great reason to celebrate and get away from things. We took KC with us and my parents adopted her temporarily until we figured out what was going on. It was slow go on I-380 which they closed about 8 hours after we drove across the reservoir. Seeing Cedar Rapids under water was horrible. Sunday we had to drive through Des Moines and across on I-80 b/c almost all of the bridges over both the Iowa River and Cedar River were closed due to flooding.

Monday June 16th/Friday June 20th – We played the waiting game and continued to stay with Rams & his family. Adam started his new job on Monday. Katelyn decided to get her first ear infection and the poor girl didn’t feel well Monday and Tuesday but that yucky pink medicine sure made her feel better. Many neighbors snuck into the neighborhood via canoes and boats to take pictures. Some coworkers took pics and news crews showed aerials. We found out water had reached about ¼ of the way up our front door but didn’t appear to reach the upstairs (split level home). We started searching for items stored at various places, registered for FEMA, researched our insurance which covers basically any natural disaster EXCEPT floods, canceled utilities, held our mail at the post office, and began to look for housing.

Saturday June 21st – We moved stuff around and obtained a new condo willing to rent month-to-month in North Liberty, a town about 5 miles north of IC. We stayed at Rams’ for one last night as we packed up our essential items. A neighborhood meeting was held at the local library where representatives from FEMA and the City answered questions as best they could. Many home owners were angry, sad, and/or numb from the blow mother nature had thrown. Several wanted someone to blame, while many others simply wanted to know what they needed to do next and how to do it. It is hard to fathom not being able to enter your home and once there not having water, sewer, electricity, gas… And many won’t for quite some time. For us, it was almost comforting to see the familiar faces of neighbors and new friends who had been strangers only a couple weeks prior. The mayor lifted the evacuation for foot traffic along Manor Drive only from 6:00PM-8:30PM. We stayed away.

Sunday June 22nd – Foot traffic alone was allowed in our neighborhood during daylight hours. Adam’s parents came down to help us move into the condo and watch KJ. Dan and Deb (expecting on July 3rd) watched KJ while we visited the house for the first time around noon on Sunday. We met with the FEMA rep who didn’t really have any new info for us, but took down some info in his little flat touch-screen computer. It was a mess! Walking in everything was covered with mud. The mold/mildew smell was so thick you could hardly breathe. The water was gone from the basement, leaving behind wet, muddy carpet, moldy walls, and trashed furniture. As we went upstairs, things seemed just as we had left it, but damp from humidity. I hadn’t realized how much we left behind in our frantic move – as shown in the pictures. But the reality of it is simple – it is just STUFF. We opened all the windows including the sliding glass door and basement windows. Adam and Lee pried open the garage doors (no electricity!) and rigged them to stay open a few feet when we left for air circulation. Our bikes were okay! And Adam even salvaged his golf clubs… Sunday night we stayed in our new condo for the first time.

Monday June 23rd – Vehicular traffic was allowed on Manor Drive so we rented a U-haul. Again, our friends pulled through and helped us move the rest of our stuff out of the house. Bev worked like a crazy woman alongside friends and family gutting out the basement – removing carpet, drywall, furniture… A lot of things were tossed to the curb for pick-up by the City solid waste department.

The reality of it finally hit me… We were loading up all this stuff into a U-haul, only to unload it into an empty garage in North Liberty, only to wait and see if mold starts to grow and then toss/move it all again! We will never live in mosquito flats again – a short ½ block walk to City Park w/ that fantastically cushy burnt orange carpet. What is nearly the end of our nightmare, is only the beginning for so many neighbors/families who lost so much more than us… They lost their family home which may or may not still have a mortgage ridding on it. Lining the streets were people’s belongings – pianos, photos, beds, clothes, furniture, appliances… Cars were out in the sun with their windows and doors open in an attempt to “air” them out. Families and friends were working side-by-side wearing rubber boots, gloves and face masks. Seeing all these people pull together is very overwhelming. And there are so many we will forever be indebted to. Thank-you to everyone who helped us – physically & emotionally. I truly feel we have been very lucky throughout this ordeal… Material items don’t really mater as long as you have your family and friends – simple yet TRUE! - ASK

25 June 2008

Pictures from our friends' home.

From the outside of their home.






Damaged lower level of their house.







Our friends' garage.




Trash and flooded streets.






Our friends' yard.







Baseball Diamonds in City Park







12 June 2008

The most up-to-date information on the effects of flooding.

This message is sent on behalf of the Office of the Vice President for Medical Affairs.

The flooding situation in eastern Iowa is changing rapidly. In order to stay abreast of these developments, all faculty, staff, and students should be aware of the following resources for getting the most up-to-date information on the effects of flooding in Iowa City, Coralville, North Liberty and other areas in Johnson County and the surrounding area. Another update will be sent later this afternoon.

Please be aware that weather conditions and the locations of flooding can change very quickly and that pedestrians and drivers should be aware they may be diverted to alternate routes.

Flooding on the University of Iowa campus http://uiflood.blogspot.com/

General information about flooding in eastern Iowa, including road closings and evacuations

http://www.gazetteonline.com/

http://www.press-citizen.com/apps/pbcs.dll/frontpage

http://www.kwwl.com/Global/story.asp?S=8449204

Road closings Johnson County http://www.johnson-county.com/emergencymgmt/index.shtml

Road closings in Iowa http://www.511ia.org

Flood info for Iowa City http://www.icgov.org

Flood info for Coralville http://www.coralville.org

North Liberty Web page http://northlibertyiowa.org


Diana Lundell
Co-Director
Joint Office for Marketing and Communications

From Sally Mason, President of UI

As you know, the flooding situation on campus, in the community, and in our region is growing more dire by the minute. I am inspired by the way the UI family has come together in support of each other, our neighbors, and all of our state's citizens who are in peril. I am asking you today to hold onto that spirit of support and cooperation to the greatest extent that you possibly can in the days to come.

We will very soon see unprecedented threats to our campus and community, and our resolve and collaborative spirit will be both required and tested. We will all be affected by this disaster in some way. Please stay closely apprised of announcements from the UI regarding our situation, and please continue to help in any way you possibly can.

Rarely has the UI community been so tested, but I am confident that we will get through this historic disaster as we stand together. Thank you for all the help and support you have provided so far, and, again, please respond to this dangerous situation with as much patience, fortitude, cooperation, and assistance as you can.

Sally Mason
President

Flood Update

Normandy Dr. (near where we moved our friends out)

Some bridge...it will probably closed soon.

Water rushing over the penninsula.


The US Army Corps of Engineers projections for outflows from the Coralville Reservoir are now at 30,000 cubic feet per second by late Friday; 35,000 cfs on Sunday; and 40,000 cfs on Tuesday, with the water level at the spillway reaching 717 feet on June 17th. -KWWL

The Iowa Department of Transportation (Iowa DOT) is making preparations to close the east- and westbound lanes of Interstate 80 in eastern Iowa. The closure is tentatively scheduled for Friday afternoon, June 13. The roadway is expected to remain closed for approximately two to three days. The closure is flooding related. -KWWL

River, reservoir continue to rise; No end in sight
This morning's rain has caused another round of flooding headaches in Iowa City and Coralville, and the worst is yet to come.Here is the latest need-to-know news:First off, flood waters continue to rise, almost unabated. The new projections released by the National Weather Service have the Iowa River cresting at 33 feet by Tuesday, it is currently at 27.1 feet and flood stage is 22 feet.

Iowa City officials approved a mandatory evacuation ordinance at a special council meeting yesterday at 6 p.m. and then put the order in effect some eight hours later for residents in the Normandy Drive area (this is where the friends we moved out lived). "Public safety officials have determined there is no longer a sufficient factor of safety for the residents in the Normandy drive area. If the sandbag levee should breach and fail, the volume and velocity of water released would present a significant risk to the lives of the residents, rescue workers and volunteers in that area,” a news release from the city said.

11 June 2008

Flood Pictures from 6/9/2008

Park St. bridge...which is now closed.

Lower City Park from Park St. bridge

Lower City Park

Dubuque St.

Another view of Lower City Park



A glimmer of hope...



It's here!

We got out friends out of their house yesterday afternoon and evening. Not everything was removed, but everything they wanted to save was. It is now safely packed in another friend's garage until this all blows over. This poor family now has things at 3 locations (4 if you count that somethings stayed behind in the house soon to be flooded). The bulk of their things are in the aforementioned garage, some things are at the house they are staying at until the end of the week, and other things are in the garage of the house they will be staying at starting Sunday and will be inhabiting indefinitely. The wife's sister is getting married this weekend as well, just in case they did not have enough going on. But they are safe now and so are their belongings.

Now for an update on the river and spillway:

It's here!

"Mother Nature defied forecasters for a day because the Coralville Reservoir did not spill over at midnight Monday, but by the end of the day Tuesday, the inevitable happened. About 8:30 p.m. Tuesday, water topped the 712 feet above sea level threshold and began trickling over the dam, said U.S. Army Corps of Engineers park ranger Kate Soska, who was on site Tuesday evening." -Press Citizen

Not sure if I mentioned yesterday, but they closed the Park St. bridge, which we usually take everyday to work. They need to secure it before the water came up over it. We checked it on the way to work this morning and the water was still a foot or 2 under it (which is not much change from yesterday). So that is a good sign for now. We will have to check on the way home tonight.

I will continue to update and hopefully post pictures soon.

10 June 2008

The flood is coming...

So, after a hectic weekend of a wedding (but without racing), we started off this week frantically trying to move everything from our friends' basement to their top floor. Their house is in the flood plaine and the Coralville Reservior is predicted to crest over the spillway and into the Iowa River at any moment. So, it light of this, we moved everything to higher ground in their house and then took about 4 truck loads of their most important things to a rental house they are planning on moving into later this week as countless car loads to another house they may be staying in in the mean time. They had originally thought it would be coming over last night at midnight, but that time came and went thank goodness and the water is still holding.

Today we hear from them that they are renting a truck and moving everything out of their house owing to the delay in the cresting of the spillway. We plan to go over and help them get all of their things in the truck this afternoon. You see because they live in the flood plaine they could not get flood insurance, so any damage that is incurred by the flood will not be covered. Luckily for them, they are renting the house. But in the last 24 hours, they have had to...find a place to stay, pack for short term, pack for long term, contemplate moving everything, organize moving everything, and come to terms with the fact that this home may not be livable once this is all said and done. In addition, they did all this with a 7 month old baby.

I am writing this to document the horrible disaster that is about to happen to Iowa City and to remind myself how thankful I am this is not happening to me. We hope to continue to do as much as we can for these friends of ours and for anyone else in the community that is in danger of losing everything.

I will post pictures of the flood as soon as I can.

03 June 2008

WORS: Big Ring Classic (Wausau, WI)

K.E. out front, tearing the place up!

Me behind like 15 women.

Me still behind like 15 women.

Making my move on the left.

On my own in the woods.

Still pedaling.

K.E. moving so fast she is a blur :)

K.E. off the front...crushing souls.


This weekend started out with hopes of racing in Council Bluffs, IA. The third race of the IMBCS series was to take place on Saturday at Lake Manawa State Park. Less than an hour before we were set to leave, we hear that the race has been postponed owing to severe weather that swept through the area the night before. We were pretty bummed out because we had planned on staying with friends in Omaha and quite a few guys from the shop were planning on going as well. But so be it, I guess...at least they told us when we did so we didn't drive 4 hours just to turn around and head back home. As soon as we heard it was cancelled, the first thing out of Kyle's mouth was "let's go to Wisconsin and do the WORS race." We talked about it for awhile. Maddie was already boarded, we were pretty much packed for a mountain bike race, it was going to be good weather up there (to race and to camp)...why not go? So, that was that and we headed to Wausau late on Saturday morning. The drive up was incredibly long. We got in around 5:30, registered, step up our tent, and got dressed to make a lap or 2 around the course. When we registered, the guys said to us that another couple from Iowa City had registered earlier, so we knew they Eppens must be there. Anyway, we ride the course, which is like a little over 8 miles. I could have sworn the first 3 miles were all fire access road. It was full of climbs and descends, but no less completely devoid of single track. The first single track section we came to was pretty rocky, but relatively short. Then more fire road, which made an abrupt right turn after a downhill section that proceeded to go straight up. At the top of this climb we made a left into single track that was very rocky and leg throbbingly steep. (There was even a sign on the trail that read Daddy! Daddy! Make it stop!) This section eventually flattened out and was just very rocky the rest of the way out. At this point the course has about 3.5 miles of fire road with a bit of single track here and there, but for the most part, the really difficult stuff was past. We did one more lap just to be familiar with the course and it was off to get dinner. (Kyle and I were getting quite grumpy with one another.)

Day of the race: I am scared out of my mind. We got up early. All I can think about is how badly these women are going to crush me. There is this one hill I have in mind close to the beginning. It goes up then veered to the right and up some more and once you reach the top you veered right again onto these wood chips that are like riding through molasses. I knew K.E. was going to beat me, but would they all beat me? I continued to struggle with this prospect. After breakfast, we got Kyle together since his race was first at 11:30. I got his numbered pinned to him, some more food in him, and send him off to warm up. After about 45 minutes of riding, Kyle headed to the start. I gave him a fresh, cold bottle for his bike, took the hot nasty one from him, and cheered when his group was released. He had a good start, despite 20 guys getting call ups in front of him. I really hoped it was a sign of good things for him this race since the excessive amount of climbing and minimal single track made this an ideal course for him. I then headed back to the car to get myself ready. After a bite to eat, I got changed and headed out to test my legs. Spinning was fine, but as I started to push, my legs hurt. I didn't know if they were going to feel like that all day or if I just needed to push them a few times. So I hoped for the latter and continued hammering up each hill I came to. Eventually, it was time to make my way to the start line. Whatever was to happen, was to happen. I was out of time. I see Kyle before the start. He was really happy with his finish and tells me to dump cold water on my head at the water station halfway throught the course.

I roll up to the line and K.E. is there, but as a past winner of this series she gets a call up. So, I am once again stuck behind a couple of rows of women. The race starts fast. We are hauling up this half hill and a pack of about 6-7 riders seems to be forming and pulling away. Just like last race, I can't seem to find a straight way out of it, so I head to the left into the more burly grass and continue pursuit. I manage to latch on to this group before the first downhill and I didn't really feel too exhausted yet. On the next climb, I see K.E. and another rider starting to pull away from the group, so I hurry around 2 of the riders in front of me to make sure I don't lose them. The next 3 miles decided my fate for the rest of the race, but unfortunately this time was kind of a blur. We were on the very challenging uphill rocky single track and the 2 women in front of me ended up off their bikes. I got off too and started to run. After getting back on, the 2 in front of me continued a little too slow for me and I fell over trying to navigate some rocks. This let 2 more women around. Up the road a bit, one of those women fell over in the rocks, which got me a place back. Then, back out on to the fire road. As soon as we got to a climb, I attacked and got passed another 2 women. Next, a group of 3 of us were in a line, and we passed this guy and started to head into single track, but being the dumbass I am, I wacked my handlebars on a tree and spun myself to the ground. The other girls just started flying to get away from me, but I recovered quickly and moved through the twists and turns as fast as I could possibly go. I was moving so quickly at one point that when I went to stand and take a corner at the same time, I smacked my hip into a tree. It didn't knock me off my bike, but it hurt like a mother. I didn't lose sight of the ladies up ahead of me though and once back out on the fire road, I caught my breath, dumped a big glass of cold water on myself (like Kyle told me) and went around the 2 women in front of me. Now, I'm on my own. I push, push, push uphill and down. There is no sign of K.E. or any other women, so I just worked as hard as I could the rest of the race. (That all took place in the first lap of the 3 lap race.) As I came through after the first lap, Kyle is cheering for me and I hear a few generic cheers, which makes me think that I am at least in the top 5. During laps 2 and 3, I continue to get passed by men, but never see any other women ahead or behind me. I am able to make it through all of the rock sections without putting a foot down and feel proud to make it without getting caught by the next girl back. I cross the finish line and see K.E. She tells me good job and Kyle is there to tell me the same shortly after. I assume she won and ask Kyle how many other women finished ahead of me. He was like, just K.E. I thought he was joking. There was no f-ing way I finished 2nd in this thing, but I had. Who would have thought? Not me. That's for damn sure.

So, it turned out to be an awesome weekend of racing...even if it wasn't the race we thought we were going to do. I got called to the podium twice. Once for winning my age group and again for getting 2nd overall. I met a couple of new women at the race that I really look forward to racing with again. Looks like I may even have to join the series now :) We will see.