Flood victims consider the prospect of another flood without pricey levees

If you walk around the Czech Village, it becomes very clear, very fast that, while the area is rebuilding, the Flood of 2008 is always present. Ask anyone back in business.

“They ask, ‘Where is your flood? How high was your water at?' We get that almost every day,” said Deb Anson of the Red Frog on 16th Avenue SW in the heart of the Czech Village.

“We lost a lot of our customers, the neighborhood is down, everybody's gone,” said Al Zindrick, owner of Al's Blue Toad right next door.

As rebuilding keeps on, the concern is will the Flood of 2008 happen again? A feasibility study released by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, released on Monday, said federal funding is not likely to pick up the cost to build miles of levees to withstand the high water levels of last year's flood.

Less expensive proposals could secure federal money in the coming months but at what cost? Would some areas of Cedar Rapids be protected at optimum levels and others left exposed?

“We should be protected,” said Anson of the Czech Village. “We got hit just as bad as everybody. If they're going to protect downtown, we should be protected here, too.”

Anson said that, if a flood similar to last year's does hit her business again, she will not rebuild a second time even after 27 years in the neighborhood.

“I wouldn't do it again!”

Zindrick said he has to take the proper steps just in case.

“I'm a little uneasy about it,” Zindrick said on the prospect of a future flood coming through the Czech Village. “We're just going to have to get more flood insurance for next year and that's going to be something we'll have to look at.”

One mile north, in the heart of Time Check, John Bloomhall, President of Diamond V Mills, stands in the company headquarters at 838 First Street NW, about 100 feet from the same Cedar River that poured through the building last year. Bloomhall said his company employs about 65 people in the neighborhood, between the headquarters and the manufacturing facility two blocks west.

“It really affects our planning,” said Bloomhall. “We can't plan until we know what's going on.” He cited his company's 66 years in the neighborhood and commitment to Time Check.

City Manager Jim Prosser spoke Tuesday afternoon, one day after the initial release of the feasibility study. He maintains city leadership is trying to protect the entire flood impact area.

“It's been a concern since right after the flood,” said Prosser. “Our ability to achieve flood protection would be critical to the decisions to reinvest. We also knew that the decision for additional flood protection wouldn't happen overnight. It takes many years to achieve that, ten to 15 years.”

As Bloomhall looks across the Cedar River, his concerns focus on when the next flood will hit.

“Every time we get heavy rain, I worry.”

Chris Earl, KCRG-TV