VIDEO: Crews practice setting up tiger dams for possible flooding

As scattered rain showers continue across Eastern Iowa and river levels continue to rise, Cedar Rapids city workers are once again practicing for potential flooding.

Current flooding is very localized, like at Prairie Creek, where water has risen enough to force the closing on one part of "J" Street SW.

On Wednesday, ice jams forced water over a part of Ellis Boulevard on the Cedar Rapids, but that water drained away and Ellis is open again.

But crews today were practicing for the kind of flood threat we haven't seen since June of 2008.

After the big flood, the city purchased two kind of systems that would give the city an additional two to three feet of protection from rising water on the Cedar River.

The tiger dams are water-filled bladders that workers can unroll quickly, fill and then stack.

City crews first got tiger dams last year, and did some training with the dams at that time.

"Yes, they're great they've got it after this," said Cheryl Witmer of U.S. Flood Control. "The issues they had last year, we can't pinpoint them on one thing or another, but these guys now know what they are doing."

One of the issues last year was practicing with the tiger dams in a neighborhood when a real flash flood came down Indian Creek. Crews had not secured the tiger dams for a real event, and the dams didn't help. Supervisors say they've got a plan for that area and would be ready this time.

City officials plan a news conference at 2:30 p.m. Thursday to talk about flood preparations. The idea is to gives some facts and figures on what's expected with rising rivers and creeks this weekend.

-- Dave Franzman, KCRG-TV9