116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
Davenport residents want river flooding fix, but not a flood wall
Cedar Rapids company reports on community survey
DAVENPORT — City residents want a permanent solution to the more frequent Mississippi River flooding along the city's riverfront — but not a flood wall.
"They want a flood strategy that is permanent and doesn't require much operation during a flood event, requiring less maintenance and providing protection at the highest flood possible," said Teresa Stadelmann, project manager with environmental consulting and engineering firm HR Green.
The Cedar Rapids consulting firm has been working since late August to determine how best to handle Davenport's riverfront and implement mitigation strategies to protect properties and prevent another downtown flood as part of an ongoing flood study by the city.
Stadelmann on Tuesday presented aldermen with the results of an online survey and other public feedback gathered on strategies to ease or prevent disruptions caused by river flooding.
The strategies include a mix of incremental improvements — from upgrading storm sewers to elevating sections of River Drive and adjacent streets prone to flooding — to transforming large spans of the riverfront with the construction of landscaped berms, levees and flood walls.
What people want
Overall, residents said the city needs to invest in long-term solutions with the anticipation of more frequent and more intense flooding, whether that be by reconfiguring the city's storm sewer system --,adding gates on storm sewer outfalls and installing pumping stations to prevent river water from backing up through the storm sewer system and inundating low-lying areas — or by raising sections of River Drive; or both.
Other suggestions include building 4 to 5 miles worth of levees, berms, flood walls and stormwater pumping stations to match a 100-year flood event or greater.
"There does seem to be strong support for trading some permanent solutions instead of operational responses to flooding," Stadelmann said. "People feel that they do want to build some things that will make that flood response simpler or reduce that operational effort each time that if floods."
Residents also said they wanted to see more things to do along the riverfront and more natural areas to enjoy along the Mississippi — paired with some sort of permanent flood protection.
"Access was a big issue that people had about flooding, whether it was impact to their business because roads were closed and they couldn't get there, or just getting across town and access to city facilities," Stadelmann said. "And then, of course, the impact of flooding that is has on businesses, on people and their residences, and on community infrastructure."
More than 500 individuals responded to the online survey. Of those who responded, 74 percent were Davenport residents. The rest predominantly either worked or owned a business in Davenport or lived elsewhere in the Quad Cities, according to HR Green.
Survey results
Key take-aways from the survey include:
- 73 percent of respondents said the city's flood strategy needs to prioritize protection for businesses and commercial buildings; 63 percent said a flood plan should prioritize homes and residents.
- 64 percent said any flood plan should provide protection to the highest elevation possible.
- 60 percent supported underground sewer improvements, seen as more cost-effective and a first step that sets the groundwork for future improvements but are quicker to implement and would help prevent streets from flooding at certain flood stages. Other respondents saw it as too low a bar for flood protection that requires too much maintenance.
- 50 percent supported construction of berms and elevating roads, feeling the former was more visually attractive than a wall. Residents also saw the strategy as an opportunity to still allow pedestrian and recreational uses along the riverfront while providing permanent and reliable flood protection at a lower maintenance cost. Others expressed concerns of obstructing views of the riverfront. Some expressed concerns about pushing flooding downstream.
- 40 percent said they support construction of a flood wall as a viable long-term investment that will help protect businesses homes, residents and city infrastructure from flooding that's forecast to only get worse.
Next steps
Davenport Public Works Director Nicole Gleason said Davenport aldermen will be asked to provide feedback and direction to HR Green in the coming few weeks on the conceptual strategies to help the consultant refine preferred strategies and draft recommendations.
Gleason said HR Green this summer will gather more public feedback on proposed recommendations before presenting a full report and finalized proposal to aldermen this fall.
Downtown Davenport, including Modern Woodmen Park, is surrounded in May 2019 by Mississippi River floodwaters. HR Green of Cedar Rapids is assisting the Davenport City Council in developing permanent flood protection strategies. (Quad-City Times)
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