Live flood updates for July 4, 2014

Here are flood updates for July 4, 2014.

UPDATED CREST FORECAST BRINGS GOOD NEWS:

The Army Corps of Engineers again lowered the expected crest for the Coralville Lake to 710 feet, two feet below the emergency spillway. On Wednesday, the forecast put water just inches from topping the spillway.

Even more promising for people living downstream from the reservoir, the Corps now expects to lower outflow from the reservoir from 18,000 cubic feet per second to 15,000 cubic feet per second next Sunday, July 13. That means flooding levels will stay at current levels through next week.

SANDBAGGING EFFORTS SUSPENDED:

Good turnout and the revised lower crest forecast means the city has enough sand bags to meet needs. The city is suspending sand bag operations at noon and won't resume unless the weather changes.

VOLUNTEER CENTER DEACTIVATING:

The United Way Emergency Volunteer Center will deactivate and be placed on 'stand by' as of noon today. The United Way Emergency Call Center will remain active from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. through Tuesday, July 15. The Call Center is available to anyone who has questions about volunteering, needs volunteer assistance or has questions about flood conditions or where to turn for other services. After hours, individuals can contact the United Way 2-1-1 regional call center by dialing 2-1-1 or 866-469-2211 after hours.

IOWA RIVER FLOOD SIMULATOR: To view a Iowa River flood impact simulator, click here.

CURRENT ROAD CLOSURES: To view a current list of flood-related road closures, click here.

CORALVILLE, Iowa — Forecasts for the Coralville Lake and, consequently, Iowa River flooding are improving in Johnson County.

For the second day in a row, on Friday, the Army Corps of Engineers downgraded the expected crest for the Coralville Lake to 710 feet by July 10, two feet below the emergency spillway.

That is good news for communities downstream that scrambled to erect floodwalls earlier this week. Already several homes are under mandatory evactuation as the river level has spilled out of its banks in some areas. Several roads, including a stretch of the busy Dubuque Street, less than a mile from Interstate 80, remains closed.

Just Wednesday water was predicted to top the spillway, a sign of how rapidly the situation has been and can continue to change.

The spillway, which was built to help control flooding, has only been breeched twice, in 1993 and 2008. It came with disasterous consequences for commmunities downstream.

There is some more promising news for people living downstream from the reservoir. The Corps now expects to lower outflow from the reservoir from 18,000 cubic feet per second to 15,000 cubic feet per second next Sunday, July 13. That means flooding levels will stay at current levels through next week.

Still, the area remains at the mercy of the weather, officials said.

'This river water is going to be around for a while. These flood walls are going to be around for a while,' Terrence Neuzil, spokesman for the Johnson County Emegency Management Agency, said on Friday. 'It's a wait and see with the weather over the next five to seven days. We are not out of the woods yet.'

Johnson County is now asking people to report any storm damage to the county by clicking here.

Storms in Marshalltown, Marengo or here in Johnson County in the next week could quickly change the outlook, Neuzil said.

The latest models account for a prediction of 1.2 inches more of rain water in the Iowa River basin over the next five days, Neuzil said.

Neuzil said climbing on floodwalls is prohibited, and that boaters are reminded to wear life jackets and be cautious of debris.

An emergency shelter set up by United Way of Johnson County at the Johnson County Fairgrounds went to standby mode as of noon Friday.

North Dubuque Street, Lower City Park, and Terrill Mill Park are all still closed because of flooding in Iowa City. Johnson County also has a boating ban in place for the Iowa River south of the Coralville Dam, which makes it illegal to boat or swim in the swollen river.