Even though these floods have been a total disaster for thousands of homes and businesses around here, I can't deny that it was just a little bit exciting to watch this event unfold. While my heart goes out to all the people who have lost property and businesses, it was a little bit like living in an action movie for a time. Seeing everyone go into emergency mode was thrilling.

As I see the clean up side of things approaching, I can't find anything to get excited about. It's just one huge stinky, slimy mess. Driving to work today, I actually saw dry ground on many of the roads that were closed. Some parts of town are beginning to open up again. However, along with that is a whole lot of dust, dirt and mud. I think it's going to be months before some people get back into their places and undoubtedly some of them are going to be demolished.

A good friend of mine, Robert Olinger, runs a Water Damage and Carpet Cleaning business in Iowa City and Coralville called Carpet Steamer. Like us, he is actually seeing an increase in business during this time as he helps people get cleaned up. Robert had been stocking up on new fans and industrial dehumidifiers over the past few months to expand his water damage business, and by some fortune was well prepared to serve the community in the aftermath of this event.

It's been interesting to see the stark contrast between businesses who lost out during the floods and others who prospered. I'm really hoping and praying that we'll all be able to come through this on the other side.

After meeting Bill Clinton at Capanna Coffee earlier this year, I thought that was my once in a life time experience to meet the President of the United States face to face (his hands were very soft - a little too soft). While that may be the case, I was thinking that I might have another chance today when I heard that President Bush was just down the street from where I was working. We actually decided to drive down that direction after our job was finished, but when we got out in the parking lot, I saw four huge helicopters take off from somewhere over the trees.

These were some large helicopters. It looked like there were actually two lead copters and two giant blue and white copters that you usually see the president coming in and out of on the news. He was here today touring the flood waters in Iowa City and Cedar Rapids.

I'll be looking for my chance to meet President Obama next (oh wait - is the election over yet?)

The pace here at my business Cramer IT has been insane today. I feel like I can barely keep up with the phone calls much less actually do support for the people calling. We have had a ton of new potential clients call today including some amazing requests for help.

My two favorite calls today where:

1. A new client called today who had been flooded out of their building, and had setup shop at a house. They couldn't figure out why they couldn't get to their shared network files at the house. Upon further discussion, they realized that while they have removed their computers from their flooded office, they had managed to leave their file server at their flooded location (which is currently under an estimated 8 ft of water). That's right, in the confusion of evacuation, they left their file server at their flooded office. They are now discussing how they can get into their office to recover the server.

2. Another client moved out of his flooded office and while re-setting up his computer at his house thought he needed to reinstall Windows XP Service Pack 2 on his pc. He grabbed his Windows XP disk and proceeded to format and reinstall Windows XP on his computer erasing all his current data. We are trying a data recovery on his hard drive now...

Both of these people where so far off the flood plain, they had never even considered a flood evacuation plan.  In the insanity and stress of moving and making decisions on the fly some crazy stuff can and will happen.

Here are a couple links I heard about today for those who need assistance from FEMA or local help

Online Application for FEMA assistance

Corridor Recover--a local site dedicated to the recovery effort

With water coming up as high as 7 or 8 feet in Coralville, many sandbagging efforts now seem futile. But you can't just sit there, you've got to do something while the water is slowly rising all around you. The sandbag wall pictured below is actually a lot taller than it looks.

There were also several instances when sandbagging when sandbagging plans would change that would render an entire huge wall obsolete. While sandbagging at the Marriot one night, I remember coming upon a very nicely laid sandbag wall about 20 feet out from the building. Obviously, a large crew of people had spent considerable time building what they thought was the best wall only to have our crew come along and systematically disassemble it and reassemble it elsewhere. There was also a 6 - 7 foot tall wall made around the entire parking lot of the Convention Center that became obsolete as the waters rose.

One aspect of these walls is that they may become useful again as the water recedes to form a barrier to keep water out with pumping. This could speed the recovery process, so not all was lost in some cases.

pan>Flood Update: Report from the Corps of Engineers; 6/16/08

Posted by: City Manager

Originally Posted 6/16/2008 11:25:22 AM

Although it appears the worst of the damage has already occurred, please keep in mind that this flood is far from over and residents on the periphery of flooded areas should be prepared for evacuation should conditions change.

The projected 5-day forecast is quite favorable for this area and to the north. However, residents should be aware that local rains and water from local creeks can affect all these projections and a sense of preparedness still needs to prevail in the community.

Army Corps of Engineers staff reported current and projected conditions at the Coralville Reservoir on Monday morning, June 16. Current outflow is 38,500 cubic feet per second (cfs). As projected, the lowering of the Reservoir is a slow and prolonged event.

Barring significant rainfall, the Corps projects the following flows from the Reservoir:
• 35,000 cfs on Thursday, June 19
• 30,000 cfs on Saturday, June 21
• 25,000 cfs on Monday, June 23
• 20,000 cfs on Wednesday, June 25
• The outlet will remain wide open until the pool elevation drops to 707.
• After that the Corps will manage the outflow to limit the drop in reservoir pool elevation no more than 1 foot per day to limit erosion.

Peak stage in Iowa City was 31.53 feet at 6:30 a.m., June 15, 2008, with a flow of approximately 40,800 cfs. Current stage in Iowa City is 31.3 feet.

So far conditions have been good.  Clear Creek which is behind our office is definitely down.  We seem to be in the clear baring a major rain storm  Our phones have gone nuts today  We are supervising multiple server migrations   Some people have been cleared to get back into their original offices  Both Qwest and Mediacom have had internet issues today, and people keep looking for solutions to get internet and phone service ASAP  We are up to our ears in wireless internet installs to provide temporary service for clients  You will probably see a drop in posts today as a result of the craziness.

Optimism

Pessimism

With standing water at it's highest point and many roads closed, the citizens of Iowa City and Coralville will attempt to go back to work tomorrow. Things have calmed down quite a bit this weekend and travel was actually quite lite on the reduced number of available roads. Officials were advising people to travel only when necessary, which is what we all did on Saturday and Sunday. On Monday, however, travel becomes necessary if you want to make a living. Most businesses will attempt to resume some form of operation tomorrow if at all possible.

As I mentioned before, we've already helped a number of businesses relocate on Thursday and Friday. I expect more of the same starting tomorrow. I already know of several that we are going to need to provide technical assistance to in order to get them operational. Some have lost internet services over the weekend, while others were only able to physically move equipment at the end of last week, let alone hook it all up and make it work.

We also have several employees that live in Cedar Rapids and work down here in Iowa City. They will be attempting to make the trip down through some kind of detour. At last estimate, the detour made the once 25 minute drive into a 4 hour trip (one way).

This should be a Monday like none other.

Here is a video of the Coralville Dam spillway at about 716.93 ft above sea level. The crest was 717 ft (just .07 feet above this). This is as high as it has ever been in the Dam's 50+ year history. It is roughly 5 feet above the spillway and this flow is in addition to the 20,000 CFS maximum output at the tailwaters just to the upper right of where this video was shot.

You can see more of my videos on my YouTube page.

We've been uploading photos to a Flickr Group called "Iowa Under Water". Feel free to add your photos if you have any. Although the Reservoir has crested, standing water around the area is holding steady at an all time high. The water is not yet receding. Here are some photos uploaded today:

Spillway at Crest

Ducks on 1st Ave in Coralville

Our Bank

We have a safety deposit box inside there.

Highway 6

This photo by the Streeters - thanks guys!

You can see more on our Photos Page.

Most media outlets are now giving this report. It is based on a meeting the Army Corp had with the city of Iowa City.  They are saying the Res crested at exactly 717 ft overnight.  Looking at the Res on the Corps site--it does look very good.  Current levels are at 716.96.  What is very important to factor in is both rain and inflow to the reservoir.  It has rained a little here today--in fact currenty there is only about 1.5 inches predicted for the area in the next 5 days.  As far as inflow is concerned, immediate up from the res looks good for now, however there does seem to be some increses up the river a way.  Here is the link to watch the river levels above and below reservoir. According the site, it looks like there is still a change the water creeps a little over 717 by a few tenth of an inch.

 The other thing for us Iowa City folks to think about right now is that while the river may have crested at the reservoir, it is still a couple days from cresting around here.  So expect some increase here for the next day or two.  Still, glad to see that we may actually be seeing water go down sometime soon!

On March 8th, 2007, the University of Iowa embarked upon the North Chilled Water Crossing Project. The purpose of the project was to bring chilled water from the west side of the Iowa River over to the east side in order to provide additional cooling capacity for new building renovations and construction. Little did they know that this supposed 2.5 month project, due to be completed by June of 2007, would become fuel for the already raging disaster flood conditions in the summer of 2008.

Problems with this project began shortly after it started and over one year later, the project was still not completed. The project involved building a cofferdam in the Iowa River to create a dry area for workers to install chilled water pipes under the river. Here is a rough timeline of events:

• 2006 - University approves the North Chilled Water Crossing Project with a $7 million budget
  
• March 2007 - Work begins on construction of the cofferdam
• May 16, 2007 - The cofferdam collapses in the Iowa River and workers narrowly escape harm
• June 2007 - Engineers evaluate the situation and begin making plans to repair the collapsed dam
• July 2007 - High waters impede work on the project and work carries on into the fall and winter months
• March 2008 - Crews are still working to evaluate, fix and stabalize the cofferdam. Officials are "relying" on good weather to get the project completed.
• June 2008 - It becomes evident that Iowa City will face a major flood event along the lines of the 1993 floods
• June 9, 2008 - As the waters top the spillway at the Coralville Dam, University of Iowa officials inform the public that the cofferdam is severely restricting flow in the Iowa River near the University. Businesses and residents upstream from the Dam will suffer even higher waters as a result. Some predictions say that flood waters could be up to 5 feet higher than normal because of the obstruction caused by the cofferdam.
  
• June 11, 2008 - Crews work to fortify the cofferdam from another collapse due to the approaching record flows in the Iowa River.
• June 13, 2008 - Flood waters rage and unprecidented flooding and damage to properties occurs in Iowa City and Coralville upstream from the cofferdam. Some buildings are in 5 - 6 feet of water. Many damaged properties were without flood insurance, and some are blaming the cofferdam as a contributor

The Des Moines Register has printed a detailed map of the flood affecting Iowa City and Coralville. Here it is:

mall>(click to view The Register's larger version.)

Here is footage from a guy who got into Normandy Drive last night. Unbelievable!

Click here for more video of ZaoPunk's tour of his parents home

Hi! I'm Dan Bovenmyer the one of the other owners of Cramer IT. Here a couple things I've been thinking:

1. I'm really interested to see what places like Normandy Drive (which is under water) look like. More specifically, I wonder if the sandbag walls got toppled or are still standing under water. If they are standing, let me ask this. Won't the sandbags there hold the water in when the river goes down?

2. Welcome to Iowa City Michael Lombardo! Iowa City hired a new city manager, Michael Lombardo, this month. He was welcomed to the city with officials holding shovels and sandbags. =) Seriously I've been very impressed with the local city officials. They are putting in long hours, and are working feverishly. The fact that there have been no serious injuries in the city so far is a testament to the job they are doing. Also props to 1st year president of U of I, Sally Mason.

3. Lindquist Center at U of I and the U of I Library are two places the University really wants to keep dry. Lindquist is the data center for the University, they have a tall strong 9 foot wall around it currently. The Library has millions of books, and there is no way to move all of them. I believe they are racing today to get books off the 1st floor.

Amidst new predictions that the water will crest today, the water levels are holding steady. Inflow and outflow from the Coralville Reservoir is about equal and the wather heights have remained consistent throughout the night.

However, Johnson county is under a severe weather alert until this evening and more rain is likely. Additional rain may delay the crest or could cause the water to rise. The National Weather Service warns:

IN ADDITION TO SEVERE STORMS...FLASH FLOODING FROM HEAVY RAIN AND LEVEE FAILURES IS THE MAIN THREAT ALONG AND SOUTH OF INTERSTATE 80. LEVEES ALONG THE CEDAR...IOWA...AND MISSISSIPPI RIVERS ARE THREATENED.

It appears that all of us above the existing waters are safe for the moment. We are all holding our breaths. I think it is not possible to confirm a water crest at this point, but we are looking better now than we were yesterday afternoon.

If you are on the east side of the river, there will likely be sandbag volunteers needed at the University of Iowa. Also, the Press-Citizen has posted a timeline of flood events leading up to the present.

In the latest interview, John Castle, operations manager for the Coralville Reservoir, predicts that the lake will crest tomorrow and 1 foot lower than previously predicted. However, he was quick to point out that this prediction does not take into consideration the short intense weather cell that dumped an undisclosed amount of rain into the Iowa River earlier this afternoon.

The big question is, just how much rain fell earlier today and how much more will fall tonight?

New numbers may be suggesting that the Coralville Lake may be cresting even now with the current level at 716.90, down from 716.93 not long ago. Inflow into the reservoir at 6:00 pm was 57,648 CFS with outflow at 49,200 CFS.

We have had the better part of two days with no rain and that will undoubtedly have an effect on things. Lets hope this prediction actually sticks.

We will reevaluate our situation in the morning.

We're monitoring the situation closely here at the office. Our office is around 1 foot above the 500 year flood mark, which in all normal or even aggressive estimates is not at risk of flooding. However, the situation seems to be defying any reasonable estimates.

They are building a berm back behind our offices in attempt to keep the Clear Creek within its banks.

The water would need to come up somewhere between 6 - 10 feet to reach our building, but I heard from the building owner today that the forecast was for water to come within one foot of the building floor by Tuesday. I just can't imagine that happening.

We have everything in place in case the unthinkable would happen, but we really hope that we don't have to go there.

Is this a 1000 year flood?

Current Flood Stats

I finally got a reading on the outflow out of the reservoir. This has been unavailable for much of the day.

• Current Reservoir Outflow: 50,000 CFS (incredible!) - RECORD
  
• Current Iowa River Height: 31.24 Ft. - RECORD
  
• Only one bridge left accross the Iowa River
• University of Iowa MU is Flooded (possible levee breach)
• Flood level predictions likely to increase tomorrow
• Unpredictable weather making predictions all but impossible
• Coralville will halt sandbagging efforts tomorrow for one day
• Iowa City wells are still holding due to the massive volunteer efforts
• Marriot to evacuate tomorrow
• Hospital taking critical patients only

Coralville Lake Elevation:

• Current Stage: 716.91 Ft. (exceeding the spillway by 5 feet)
  
• Tomorrow's Forecast: 716.90 Ft. (Yes, you read that right)
• Data is becoming spotty on inflow / outflow numbers - they are not keeping up

The Iowa Press-Citizen Reports:

The Cities of Iowa City, Coralville, the University of Iowa and Johnson County have imposed a curfew as follows:

Between the hours of 8:30 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. no persons, other than those authorized by law enforcement, shall be within 100 yards (e.g. football field) of any area affected by flood.

Law enforcement will enforce the curfew.

There is a highly isolated and highly intense storm moving south east towards Cedar Rapids and Iowa City. This storm is dumping additional water directly into the Iowa River basin as it moves towards us. This could be exactly what we do not need at this point.

Update (4:48 pm):
It looks like it went just north of us. Bulls eye right into the Iowa River. A friend is sending hail pics - I will post them when I get them.

In 1993, record smashing floods ravaged the state of Iowa much like they are this week. Although the floods happening right now are far worse than 1993, no one had ever seen or heard of a flood event of the magnitude that happened in '93. The floods of '93 caused wide spread damage to homes and businesses and were burned into the minds of every person that experienced them that year. After the floods, an joint enquiry was held between Iowa City, The City of Coralville, and the Army Corps of Engineers to determine if there was any way to more optimally regulate the outflow from the Coralville Reservoir and Dam that holds back the Iowa River north of Iowa City and Coralville.

In 1997, after several years of beurocratic meetings, the Corps of Engineers determined, suprisingly, that "There is no Federal interest in a study of the optimal regulation of the reservoir." The Corps was unwilling to hear any public input regarding this decision and ceased any efforts on developing a written contingency plan for lake operation in the event of a flash flood.

In spite of the firm decision handed down to the public by the Corps of Engineers, Larry Molnar and Charles Newsome wrote a review of some of the major procedural and technical flaws of the Corp's decision. In their report, Larry and Charles suggest that the Corps was ignoring an opportunity to take some factors into account when optimizing the regulation of the reservoir. Among other things, Larry and Charles mention a potential long-term climate shift that was not a consideration in the original design of the reservoir and dam. This reference to Global Warming, would most likely be well received today, but in 1997, it was dismissed without further discussion. This report was forwarded on to the Corps of Engineers in 1997 and I can find no record of any response to it from the Corps.

Leading up to this event, I watched the Corps of Engineers restrict the outflow of the Coralville Dam to well below capacity for weeks, while at the same time hearing others warn of an impending flood event. I am not an expert in hydrological events, and I am struggling to understand the theory behind the reservoir management protocols. I suspect that there is more to the story than meets the eye. I'm confident that the Corps of Engineers has followed protocols in this event and is not to blame for the flood occurring today. I wonder if it would have been possible for anyone to construct a new reservoir management protocol that could have protected us from this event.

We have a situation at the University of Iowa. Over the past 4 days, university workers and volunteers have constructed a sandbag levee along the Iowa River next to the UI Memorial Union. Currently, this levee is in danger of being breached. If the levee is breached, water will flood into the University of Iowa along the east bank of the Iowa River, flooding university buildings including the University of Iowa Library. Hundreds of volunteers are frantically working now to sandbag the UI Library and move books to higher ground. Will their efforts be enough? Additional help is urgently needed near Burlington street at the University of Iowa to fortify and protect these buildings.

We just drove across the Iowa River on Burlington and water was coming across the road just before the bridge. We picked up some supplies and our bikes - bike travel is becoming more efficient than cars in many parts of town. On our way out, I saw that they have the closed sign ready to swing out into the road at any minute.

Update:

The Benton St. Bridge is now closed.

As bad as things are getting in Iowa City, Cedar Rapids is even worse. The entire downtown area has been completely demolished. I was watching videos of people driving big boats around the downtown streets. No doubt there will be a Hurricane Katrina style clean up in Cedar Rapids in the coming months.

I really feel for the businesses and people just up the road there and hope that things will continue to recede.

We have stopped by a friend's house on the west side of town to get a quick shower. Travel back to the east side of Iowa City is not currently advised.

Just how bad is it? This screen shot of Iowa Road Conditions give you some idea of the wide spread flooding happening in Iowa - the red circles with white bars through them represent road closures:

I look at this, and think that someone photoshop'd this as some kind of joke. Ha... funny.

As of 3 am this morning, the Army Corps of Engineers is reporting outflow at the Coralville Reservoir of about 46,000 CFS. Inflow is at around 58,000 CFS. This outflow amount is higher than I've heard any news agency predict and it means that the river is still rising at an alarming rate.

As I worked near the river last night, the waters are deceptively peaceful. The night was cool and calm and you could hear the normal river sounds and calming water flow noises. When you are near the flood waters, it doesn't seem like anything is wrong. That is until you look behind you and see the preparations going on and the water creeping into the first floors of the buildings and the roads closing. I'm hearing reports today that the city will be divided and all roads in Iowa City across the river will be closed.

With all of the thought and planning put into this city by civil engineers and architects, we simply were not prepared for an event of this magnitude.

This is what we saw about a mile up the road from us:

There is roughly 4 - 5 feet of standing water over the road and it is still rising.

After dinner, we went to the Marriot Hotel for some last minute sandbagging. Things are not looking good. They didn't have enough time to build an adequate wall along the back side and the river is within 6 inches of the wall of the building. We were attempting to tape plastic along the wall in hopes that the water pressure would hold the plastic up and pass by the building. It just didn't seem like a good solution, but it was all we had.

A flood is like a slow motion train wreck that you can see coming from a long way off and you feel every ounce of it as it's happening. Like a train wreck, there isn't much you can do to save yourself if you're caught in one, but the amount of time you have to watch it unfold makes you feel like you just have to do something. I think we all felt that way tonight as we worked to build sand bag walls. I'm not sure if anyone really thought that it would hold back the water, but you just have to do something. Our best hope is for the river to stop rising against the predictions of the National Weather Service and the Army Corps of Engineers. That seems an unlikely bet, but what is man without hope?

We are going to venture out of the office now and attempt to get some food. The main road in front of us is mostly blocked off and the city officials are advising against any travel unless absolutely necessary.

The traffic is slowing down a bit now. It was taking over an hour to get from one side of town to the other earlier. Traffic was moving at 10 mph.

Current Flood Stats:

• Coralville Res Height: 716.38 (almost a record)
  
• % of Flood Storage Used: 129.23 %
  
• Iowa River Height: 30.52 ft (a current record)
• Expected Iowa River Crest: 33 Feet
• Iowa River Flow Rate: 30,550 CFS
• Res Inflow: 58,399 CFS
• Res Outflow: 42,104 CFS

I've been watching differnet web sites in the area these last Few Days. Here are some links that you might like

Flood Maps

• FEMA Flood Maps
• Iowa City 100/500 year Map
  
• Coralville 100/500 year Map
• Iowa City / Coralville 500 Year Map

Road Conditions Map

• Live DOT Road Conditions
  
• Iowa City Road Closures

Rive/Weather Info

• NOAA Weather/Flood links
• Real Time Stream Flow for Iowa River (USGS)
• USGS Flood Updates
  

Cities of Iowa City/Coralville Info

• City of Iowa City Page (Good info/links)
• City of Coralville (News Link)
• U of Iowa Flood Blog
• Iowa City Press-Citizen
• IC Press-Citizen Mobile Link
• The Daily Iowan (U of I Student Newspaper)
• The Daily Iowa Mobile Link
• Mid-American Energy Live Outage Map
  

Cedar Rapids Info

• The Gazette
• KCRG
• KWWL
  

Web Cams

• Live View of Coralville Lake

Please make comments on the page of other links, and i'll add them!

We are continuing to get calls from businesses that are being evacuated. Common questions are:

• how do I move the server?
• what do I do about my phone lines?
• what do I do about internet service?

We've been co-locating some servers here in our office and putting up wireless internet connections for some clients. We've also signed up more than a few customers for Vonage VoIP phone service. You can pick up an adapter at Best Buy and sign up for your account. We're then configuring the customers phone numbers to forward to the new Vonage number that is terminated over the internet connection that we set up.

Our office was built 1 foot above the 500 year flood mark. At the beginning of the week, water in the office was not even a remote possibility. However, as things have developed, we're watching the Clear Creek behind us very closely. As a precaution, we've put our valuables high on the shelves in the warehouse and brought in a generator in case power gets cut.

Bridges accross the Iowa River are closing and may all be closed by tomorrow. I have camping gear and food and I plan to ride this out until the end and keep the servers alive.

We'll try to get some photos to post soon.

Also, my partner Dan will be making some posts on the blog as well. Welcome Dan!

At 4:00 pm today, the inflow to the Coralville Reservoir was an unprecidented 60,000 CFS with the outflow at around 42,270 CFS. The storage of the Reservoir was at almost 270,000 acre-feet of water out of a total capacity of 461,200 acre-feet.

What this means is that at the current flow rates, water would go over the top of the dam in roughly 128 hrs. Things will of course change as we go along here, but if it keeps raining like it has, this could be within the realm of possibility.

All Qwest internet customers in eastern Iowa have been without internet for the last two days. Some have been restored, but some are still out. This outage is due to a main POP being flooded in downtown Cedar Rapids. We've done numerous wireless internet installations for customers today as replacements for Qwest customers and for businesses that have relocated due to the flooding.

Earlier this week, one of our upstream providers moved a node from a POP on South Gilbert to downtown Iowa City. After this move, our DS-3 connection should remain active even after the POP on South Gilbert is flooded.

We've had to cancel two installations today because the businesses that requested them were ordered to evacuate just before we arrived.

I'm starting this blog to keep everyone up to date on the happenings here in Iowa City and Coralville, IA during the floods. My name is Josh Cramer and I run an IT business in Coralville, IA. We have a city-wide wireless network providing internet service for numerous residential and business clients. We also provide IT networking services for many small businesses in the area. In addition, I also have a website development company called Cramer Development. Our flagship product is Markup Factory, a web publishing platform for creating websites and managing content.

I am also a part of Mars Hill Church in Iowa City. We've been working hard over the last several days to help sandbag and evacuate people.

Waters in the Iowa River are expected to excceed The Great Flood of '93 by more than six feet. The Iowa River is currently expected to crest at 35', which is 6.5 feed higher than the 28.5 feet crest in 1993. The current crest forecast is for sometime next Tuesday or Wednesday. However, every day for the last 3 - 4 days, the predictions of the flood magnitude have increased significantly.

My mission during this time is to be of as much assistance to the area businesses and residents as I can and to keep the servers running in our little data center in Coralville, IA.

I'll try to post updates here as much as I can to keep you all abreast on the happenings.