Little progress in talks with Corps on Cedar Rapids flood-protection system

UPDATED: There's a slim chance legislation will be introduced this year directing the Army Corps of Engineers to take another look at the economic feasibility of a flood protection system to protect both sides of the Cedar River in Cedar Rapids, Sen. Tom Harkin said April 29.

Harkin plans to add language to a water re-authorization bill to force the Corps to consider other factors before ruling out a flood-protection system of levees, flood walls and flood gates if the system costs more than the value of the property it protects. The Cedar Rapids plan does not meet that standard, according to the Corps.

“You can't just put a whole section of Cedar Rapids at risk because of a formula,” Harkin said. “You have to take into account some other aspects.”

However, Harkin said it's more likely the Senate will take up that legislation next year.

The Corps has characterized the 2008 flood in Cedar Rapids as a “500-plus-year event.” A University of Iowa expert believes it more likely a once-in-250-years event.

The city is asking the Corps to allow an external review of the data it used in determining the cost-benefit ratio on the city's plan. That plan, which was developed after a series of public open houses a year ago, would protect the city against a flood of the same magnitude as the disastrous June 2008 flood.

Cedar Rapids Flood recovery Director Greg Eyerly is trying to make the case it should be the test case for a new way of determining the feasibility of flood-protection systems.

“We want to be the case study for a new way of calculating the cost-benefit ration,” he said. “We think Cedar Rapids is a perfect example of why the cost-benefit ratio model needs to change.”

The city has been in discussion with the Corps to make the case for applying other social effects outside of the typical economic impacts to determine the feasibility of flood-protection systems, Eyerly said.

It's not enough for the Corps to protect the east side of the Cedar River – downtown, Harkin said.

“That‘s positive for one side of the river, but not the other,” he said. “If you just do one side, the east side, people with lower incomes on the other side will be adversely affected by this and so you can't just look at this cost-benefit ratio for one side of the river.”

The Corps needs to consider “the further implications of flooding,” Harkin said.

The city's fear is that flood-affected industries in Cedar Rapids might decide to make new investments in other communities unless a flood-protection system is put in place. Not putting in a system to protect the downtown, he added, jeopardizes the jobs of many people around the region who come to the city to work.

Eyerly said the city and Corps will host open houses in May or June to inform the public of the Corps' final recommendations.