High water delays search for possible car in Cedar River

Sheriff's deputies must wait for the Cedar River to drop before they can safely return to the place a woman reported seeing a vehicle go into the Cedar River Sunday night.

“With the water as high as it is, as fast as it is, there is nothing we can do until the water goes way down,” Linn County Sheriff Brian Gardner said Tuesday afternoon.

Deputies who returned to the Blairs Ferry Road bridge over the Cedar east of Palo Monday found what could be tire tracks near the river, Gardner said.

Deputies and firefighters were called to the scene about 7:15 p.m. Sunday by a passing motorist who said she saw a vehicle go into the river. They searched the area, including the access and the riverbanks up and downstream from the bridge, for more than two hours without finding sign of a vehicle.

Deputies returned Monday to take a look in the daylight.

Gardner said deputies will try to determine whether the incident is connected to a missing Atkins woman. Family members of Nancy B. Collins, 66, reported her missing Sunday, according to the state's missing persons database.

“We have been in contact with family members of that missing person,” Gardner said. “The family was understanding. They don't want to put anyone at risk.”

The Cedar is expected to remain above flood stage until Thursday at Vinton and until Sunday afternoon at Cedar Rapids, according to the National Weather Service. Gardner said deputies will return to the scene when it's safe to conduct a more thorough search.

“Once the current is slow enough, we'll probably send boats in,” he said.