I’ve probably seen too many floods in my time.

Friday, July 14, 2000

I’ve probably seen too many floods in my time. I don’t remember much flooding in the Philadelphia suburbs when I grew up, but when I moved to central New Jersey, there were streams there that overspilled their banks on occasion.

When I moved to southeast Iowa more than a decade ago, I got to experience the Mississippi River’s 500-year flood in 1993; it became known as the Great Flood of ’93.

The town I lived in at the time didn’t experience significant damage in the flood because most of the city sat above the river. Only a commercial district on the riverfront got wet. The city’s Works Progress Administration-built auditorium was completely surrounded by water, but the businesses were inconvenienced by some high water for a month at the most. One restaurant sustained considerable damage and there was some driving inconvenience along the riverfront. But no homes were damaged and there was no widespread damage in the city. However, in smaller towns and riverfront communities along the Big Muddy, there was damage. Some levies broke, flooding trailer and riverfront cabin communities. One community, Niota, Ill., located across Lake Cooper, the large pool on the Mississippi River at Fort Madison, Iowa, was completely inundated. The town remains scarred to this date: abandoned commercial buildings and homes and water marks halfway up the facades of homes, garages and sheds. Some people moved back to the community. Others moved to higher ground. The Flood of ’93 Museum a mile away in Fort Madison attests to the conditions residents encountered that summer.

Last spring and summer, I was working for a newspaper in eastern Iowa when the Cedar River there overspilled its banks. Those who live along the Cedar in Muscatine County, Iowa, dealt with the rising waters several times. Water surrounded riverside homes and left residents stranded. I chased more than enough of my share of police calls of reports of people or vehicles seen in the raging Cedar. Already this summer, we’ve had three floods here in Austin. Residents seem resilient. Admittedly, I seem to be living on dry ground. I think one flood would be enough to send me packing for decidedly dry terra firma in SPAMTOWN USA. I can’t imagine what flood victims go through. During the Flood of ’93, I interviewed one woman who was coping with the effects of the flood in her Mississippi River community of Keithsburg, Ill. I told her story to readers in an article in Glamour magazine. I couldn’t imagine the things she went through to restore her home after the floodwaters receded.

This week, hundreds of area residents dealt with the aftereffects of a flood that basically snuck up on all of us. It’s something no one should have to endure. Through the prayers and help from neighbors and family, many people will pull through. It will take many years to recover, especially those without insurance. The flood didn’t last here long, thankfully, but it did its damage. We were fortunate the Cedar receded as fast as it did. Let’s hope we don’t get a torrential rain any time soon.