Rain outside Dubuque causes big trouble too

DUBUQUE COUNTY- Dubuque definitely got the worst of it with the torrential downpour Wednesday night into Thursday. But there was plenty of water trouble outside the Key City as well.

Rushing water forced crews to put up barricades and close a number of roads. And one such closing impacted Highway 151 northeast of Cascade - severing the usual main link between Cedar Rapids and Dubuque. Denny Green, Volunteer Fire Chief in Cascade, said emergency responders got the call to close off the highway just before 5:00 o'clock Thursday morning.

Water from two normally small creeks was rushing over the roadway. Crews tried to stop traffic in time, but it was too late to prevent two vehicles from getting caught in the water. But the people inside the vehicles managed to get to safety.

But Green said that wasn't the strangest thing firefighters saw. Cattle from nearby farms were swept into the rushing water and carried downstream.

“We counted numerous cattle under both bridges (four lane) and heading downstream. Hopefully, they found some dry ground to get out,” Green said.

In Dyersville, the feeling about the downpour was “this is getting a bit old.” The rain-swollen north fork of the Maquoketa River filled a number of residential streets and swamped a town park and ball fields near the river.

These soggy conditions have occurred in Dyersville several summers in a row.

Tim Pins, Emergency Management Director for Dyersville, said the problem was manageable and couldn't compare to what happened in Dubuque.

“We've been very fortunate,” Pins said. “I feel bad for our counterparts in Dubuque. They're really struggling and looking at disaster funding already so we're (Dyersville) in good shape.”

Pins said only two homes in Dyersville had water inside and the damage was even less about five miles upstream in New Vienna.

Town public workers supervisor Mike Neuhaus said only one home in that Dubuque County community got water in the basement - and that was the 1.5 inches in his own house. Neuhaus believed five or six inches of rain fell in the communities of western Dubuque County. That's enough to cause plenty of problems, but pales next to the downpour in Dubuque.

“There's a little seepage here and there, but that's about it,” Neuhaus said.