Flood 2008
Cedar Rapids Flood Data
Some basic data to let you know what we faced:
Flood stage for the Cedar River in CR is 12.0 feet. The last big flood in 1993 crested at just over 19 feet, about 1 foot short of the record crest of 1929. In the flood of 1993, we had about 13" of water in the church basement, mostly due to sewer back up, but also to rainwater entering the basement through the walls and a basement door. We were never in danger of having flood water reach our building, even with a near-record crest. Recent improvements to the building led us to believe that we would not have problems with the rain this time, since we have had very little problem in that area recently, despite an exceptionally wet winter and spring. (As it turned out, we were correct in this aspect.) Our only concern was whether we would again have problems with sewer back up. So we prepared by removing as much of the critical equipment (electronics, etc.) to the main floor, and placing appliances, game equipment, and other heavy items at least 18" up off the basement floor. The expected crest of the river at this point was 22 feet, which would have been a new record.
When we learned that the expectation had been raised to a crest of 24 feet, we returned and sandbagged the vulnerable entry points to the building–basement windows, floor level doors. At this point we knew that, unlike in 1993, the river waters would likely reach to our building.
The next day we awoke to a crest of 31.1 feet, fully 19 feet above flood stage, and 11 feet above the highest recorded crest ever at our location. Four levees broke, including one upstream from us. We think that the rush of water from that levee break may have been responsible for breaking the basement window that allowed the river to pour unabated into our basement.