Delhi residents remember dam breach one year later

DELHI -- One year ago July 24, the Lake Delhi dam was breached, sending water into homes and businesses. The Maquoketa River swelled and overtook the dam. The massive flooding changed the landscape of the area so many called home.

“Anyone involved in this is never going to forget. It's always going to be there,” Lake Delhi resident Tammy Gorman said.

The images and the sounds of a dam breach are etched in Gorman's memory. The floodwaters wiped out homes and businesses. The result is a quiet summer in 2011.

“The water got up to the top of the door, went through everything on my floor, so we completely gutted it and rebuilt,” said Robin Cram, who has lived at Lake Delhi since childhood.

“I was able to rebuild my whole first floor, but you keep looking around and its ongoing,” Cram said.

Gorman took her four-wheeler up to what used to be the dam. The failure cost her a home, vehicle and countless possessions.

“We're living in the same area; we're renting a mobile home. We're starting out with less than we had when we got married,” she said.

But neither Gorman nor Cram has moved. They never second-guessed rebuilding, even though their surroundings still are in bad shape.

“Everything is just as it was. The homes aren't cleaned up. It's a mess. There are critters down there crawling through,” Cram said.

Memories run deep

The raging waters took everything in its path and scattered it along the lake, and the items are still there a year later.

Residents say it's a constant reminder.

“Every day I think of this because I have nothing,” Gorman said.

The nine-mile-long lake drained away in hours, but the cleanup will take years. The cost to repair the dam could run between $10 million and $12 million. The Iowa Senate has appropriated $5 million from the Rebuild Iowa Fund.

Lake Delhi leaders hope to complete construction by the end of 2013.

Coverage from 2010

Video from 2010