Flooding puts Cedar Rapids, much of Iowa under water

The streets in Cedar Rapids, Iowa - all 400 blocks of them - were filled with floodwaters and other strange sights: floating Dumpsters and utility poles and sandbags piled in vain.The cresting Cedar River wreaked widespread havoc Friday on Iowa's second-largest city, forcing the evacuation of 3,000 homes and a downtown hospital while collapsing a railroad bridge.Houseboats were swept away as the fast-rising river created a lake in downtown Cedar Rapids, where a breach in the levee turned roadways into waterways.It was the worst Midwest flooding in 15 years, when the Cedar River crested at just over 19 feet - compared with a crest of more than 31 feet yesterday.The waterlogged sandbags were stacked outside Mercy Medical Center, where 176 patients were transferred out as the waters seeped inside.Its emergency generator was at risk, and workers were moving furniture and supplies off the ground floor as the river continued to rise. The evacuees included about 30 frail and elderly patients from a hospital nursing home, officials said.Cedar Rapids resident Latrina Walker, forced from her home by the waist-deep water, wound up in a local shelter with her four children."I don't know how much damage is done," she said. "I'm just really scared right now."Others who failed to heed evacuation warnings were ferried to safety by rescuers in boats, reminiscent on a much smaller scale of the scenes from New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. Helicopter shots from above Cedar Rapids, a city of 124,000, showed cars disappearing and buildings receding in the rising tide.City officials said more than 400 city blocks downtown were submerged, with more flooding elsewhere - although details on outlying areas were sketchier. The downtown library, with its 300,000 books, was shut down after workers relocated some of its collection from lower shelves to avoid the rising water.While Cedar Rapids was the worst hit, the entire state of Iowa was battered by bad weather and flooding. Gov. Chet Culver declared 83 of the state's 99 counties as disaster areas.In Des Moines, 100 miles to the southwest, officials issued a voluntary evacuation order for much of downtown and other areas bordering the Des Moines River.Mayor Frank Cownie said the evacuations in the state's capital were an attempt "to err on the side of citizens and residents."Despite the flooding and evacuations, Iowa authorities reported no fatalities or serious injuries linked to the weather woes. http://www.nydailynews.com/news/us_world/2008/06/13/2008-06-13_flooding_puts_cedar_rapids_much_of_iowa_.html

As in the days of Noah....