Residents urged to evacuate parts of Des Moines; floodwaters ravage Cedar Rapids

The alert was prompted by rising river levels expected to peak at 8 p.m. Friday.

Des Moines Mayor Frank Cownie says that they are asking for the evacuations "to err on the side of citizens and residents."

The evacuation should begin immediately, Cownie says, and be completed by 6 p.m.

In Cedar Rapids on Friday morning, hospital workers using wheelchairs and on stretchers evacuated more than 175 patientsfrom Mercy Medical Center as rising waters of the worst flood in central Iowa history lapped into the basement.

With the Cedar River and nearby Iowa Rivers rising, state officials closed two major roadways—U.S. Highway 30 and Interstate Highway 80—for miles and detoured long lines of traffic onto overburdened rural roads. More than 35 highways across Iowa are under water.

Things worsened by the hour across the region Friday even as frantic sandbagging efforts were under way.

Sgt. Troy Kelsay of the Iowa City Police Department said Friday morning that police went door-to-door with evacuation orders starting Thursday and have only expanded the scope since. Police have extended their patrols to include evacuated areas to keep residents from returning to their homes.

Half of the department's patrol officers are on the street at any given time working in 12 hour shifts. Prior to the flooding, only a third of the department's 74 officers would be out.

"Half of the department is working while the other half is resting. This is the first day we've done that," Kelsay said. He added that residents have remained calm and that he has no reports of looting. However, one intoxicated man had to be fished out of Ralston Creek at 2:10 a.m. Friday after he fell in. He was charged with public intoxication.

"We're just trying to cope," Kelsay said.

John Castle, operations project manager with the Army Corps of Engineers, has been measuring the water levels of a man-made lake north of Coralville since 1991 and has never seen the water so high. "I'm sure there is no one alive in Iowa City who has seen this kind of water," he said.

The lake is now 33 feet higher than normal with water gushing over the spillway and is expected to crest on Monday at 717.7 feet above sea level. But that doesn't account for any additional rainfall.

Castle said residents haven't seen the worst of it: they've experienced only two-thirds of the flooding yet to come. "The water on the [Monday and Tuesday] could be 4 to 5 feet higher," he said, and that he expects the flooding to be far worse than it was in 1993.

"This will be a foot higher on the lake level," he said. The spilling is now measured at 33,000 to 34,000 cubic feet per second as compared to '93 when it was 29,000 feet per second. It could reach up to 43,000 in the coming days. "There's not a lot we can do about it," Castle said.

Lesly Simmons, spokeswoman for the Red Cross, said her organization has opened a single shelter at the Johnson County Fair Grounds. The shelter held just 25 people Thursday night but she said the number may quadruple in the coming days. She said the Red Cross will ramp up its efforts in Iowa City and the surrounding areas as the floodwaters rise.

There is a single Red Cross emergency response vehicle on the ground here now, giving food, water and other supplies to local residents. Simmons said the number of vehicles is expected to increase quickly. "There is more to come over the weekend," she said. Dave Metzler, owner of Coral Lanes bowling alley in Coralville, a city partially submerged, spent all of Thursday putting sandbags around his business with the help of volunteers. The bags were stacked nearly 3 feet high when the local police came by with an announcement that made Metzler's heart sink.

He was given 24 hours to evacuate and he was told the sandbags would not be high enough.

The water around his beloved hangout is expected to increase by more than 5 feet from what he was initially told. If that holds true, the entire first floor would be submerged and no amount of sandbagging could keep the water out.