Iowans brace for rising rivers from reservoirs

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By The Associated Press | Tuesday, June 10, 2008 |

Volunteers stand along the top of the massive sandbag wall protecting Mayflower Residence Hall from rising floodwaters in Iowa City. Iowa Gov. Chet Culver said nearly a third of his state's 99 counties need federal help for flooded areas. (AP Photo)

DES MOINES — Releases from reservoirs upstream of Des Moines and Iowa City had officials bracing Monday for a rush of water that could cause flooding in both cities later this week.

In Des Moines, plans were being made to build temporary levees and begin sandbagging to hold the water back. In Iowa City, City Manager Michael Lombardo said as many as 150 homes near the Iowa River are “directly in harms way,” with another 130 homes in two mobile home parks also being threatened.

Swollen rivers also were raising the Mississippi River above flood stage, causing the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to plan the closure of at least a few locks and dams from New Boston, Ill., — between Davenport and Burlington — south into Missouri.

For Des Moines, the problem is just north of the city at Saylorville reservoir, where recent heavy rains raised the water level to 882 feet as of Monday morning, just below spillway’s elevation of 884 feet above sea level.

Jeff Rose, operations manager for the Corps of Engineers at Saylorville, said an inflatable dam would be installed atop the spillway to increase the height to 890 feet — the level the lake is expected to top-out at on Wednesday.

“They’re essentially big pillows ... that will give us another 6 feet of elevation on top of the emergency spillway,” Rose said.

The record level at Saylorville Lake was 892 feet on July 13, 1993.

Rose said the inflatable dam would give Des Moines “some more time downstream for their preparations.”

In 1993, the Des Moines water treatment plant was flooded, cutting off tap water for 350,000 people in and around the city for 12 days.

After the flood, the city installed flood gates around the plant. Those gates are now up, plant spokesman Gary Benjamin said on Monday.

Bill Stowe, the city’s public works director, said temporary levees would be built around the city’s current levee system and sandbagging, including around the city’s downtown bridges, would occur in some areas as a precaution.

The Des Moines River isn’t expected to top the downtown levees, he said.

“The levels we’re being provided by the corps shows we should come within 2 to 3 feet of the levees but not top it,” Stowe said.

The Raccoon River empties into the Des Moines River just below the city’s downtown. By delaying releases from Saylorville, Stowe said the hope was that levels on the Raccoon River would drop before the Des Moines River swells even more.

In the past, the Raccoon River backed up and flooded when its waters were blocked by high water on the Des Moines River.

For Iowa City, problems are expected when the corps increases releases beginning Tuesday morning from the Coralville Reservoir in eastern Iowa, said John Castle, operations manager at the Coralville Reservoir.

Iowa City officials organized sandbagging over the weekend in hopes of protecting homes along the Iowa River, Lombardo said.

In addition to the 150 homes in the expect path of flood waters and other mobile homes nearby, areas near the University of Iowa also could see flooding, Lombardo said.

“They’re planning for the worst but hoping for the best,” he said.

He said flooding in Iowa City is expected to reach 1993 levels.

Castle said he sees a more serious problem farther to the south and east where the Iowa River is joined by the Cedar River near Columbus Junction.

Already record levels on the Cedar River to the north are expected to flow south and empty in the swollen Iowa River near Columbus Junction, Wapello and Oakville.

“It will be very comparable to what we saw in 1993,” Castle said. “There will be serious flooding.”

He said more rain in the forecast for later in the week would only make things worse.

“With more rain it’s only going to get higher,” Castle said.

Gov. Chet Culver toured flooded areas of northern Iowa on Monday. Those regions included Mason City, where a levee along the Winnebago River broke on Sunday, shutting down the city’s water treatment plant and flooding nearby neighborhoods.

More than 500 homes in Charles City were damaged by flooding from the Cedar River with 100 residents being evacuated overnight Sunday and early Monday. All bridges across the river in Charles City were closed because of the high water.

To the east, the Mississippi River was expected to push above flood stage from Dubuque to Burlington, where the river was expected to crest at 22 feet, 7 feet above flood stage, on June 16, said Ron Fournier, a spokesman for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

Lesser flooding was expected to the north, he said.