Feds Forget CR is too Big to Sail

Good news, Cedar Rapids: The Army Corps of Engineers says the chances of another record flood during the next 50 years is so low that there's no need to build a pricey levee system to protect the city.

So we're safe. Probably!

 This must be so comforting for folks who moved back into flooded neighborhoods.

“To me, it's another slap in the face,” said Larry Peyton, who fixed up his flooded home in Time Check, back when it looked like what's left of his neighborhood would be protected. “The Corps of Engineers doesn't think we're valuable enough to protect. ... I'm pretty sure none of them live here.”

Huh. It's almost as if flooded folks are skeptical of government predictions and decision-making. Go figure.

But don't blame engineers. They're only following federal “principles and guidelines” and models fed with 106 years of Cedar River data. Those models show that over the 50-year life of a levee system, there's very little chance that a 2008 flood will be repeated. So the cost-benefit ratio says no dice.

We say epic surge, the models say crazy fluke. We say unprecedented, the feds say unfunded.

We thought it could never happen. Then it happened. And now we're supposed to go back to thinking it could never happen. We blew off warnings in 1967, so we clearly know how to kick the can down the river.

The models also don't believe that our climate is haywire. They didn't hear Iowa State University climate expert Eugene Takle tell a legislative panel that water flow on Iowa rivers is increasing and more flooding is coming, The government is working on a model that accounts for climate swings. Until then, please hold for the next available levee.

The feds are busy with other risks, like keeping people from blowing up their underpants on airplanes. And money is tight, after we stimulated and cashed in clunkers and bailed out banks “too big to fail.” Apparently, the federal government doesn't know that Cedar Rapids is too big to sail.

Now our fate is in the hands of Congress. It's up to our congressional delegation to convince their colleagues that we need a levee system even if the Corps says we don't. Mayor-elect Ron Corbett and local leaders are behind the effort.

There's going to be lots of hooting and hollering about how it's our own fault for living and working near a river and how we deserve what we get and don't get. I hope those very smart people come in person and point out which parts of the city we should protect and which parts should be guinea pigs testing the accuracy of models.

And when another flood comes, they can explain that oh-so comforting cost-benefit ratio again.

Comments: (319) 398-8452; todd.dorman@gazcomm.com