The Corridor's young residents reflect on flood memories

Nick Sanders knew his family didn't live near the water. Lindsey Miller knew the same about hers. That awareness didn't matter when the Cedar River crested at over 31 feet in June 2008.

“I remember I felt really scared because I didn't know what was going on,” Miller said. “I didn't want my house to get flooded.”

Almost five years later, Miller explained her concern as a reaction to seeing other people's homes filled with water.

“And I was 7,” the 12-year-old Marion resident said.

Sanders and his older sister Jordan, who live in Marion, also struggled to comprehend the natural disaster and their emotional responses to it.

“We were scared and nervous the whole time,” said Jordan, who was 7 years old at the time of the flood. “I remember my stomach being queasy.”

“I was scared for the people,” added Nick, now 10.

Brix Young was one of the people. His Cedar Rapids home, located near Palo, was one of the structures damaged in the flood. Young, a self-described longtime “weather enthusiast,” had grown up playing in and fishing in the waters near his home.

On the Tuesday before the crest, the 10-year-old anticipated that his home's backyard would flood – it always did when the river got high. When he went to look, what he saw was anything but expected.

“It was a raging river,” Young said. “I'd never seen our backyard like that. It was mind blowing. It was absolutely stunning and still to this day I'd never seen anything like it.”

Despite the efforts of family and friends, 6½ feet of water filled Young's basement, though they managed to move almost everything to higher ground before the flood.

“I had a certain kind of peace with it,” he said. “After the sandbagging was done, it was like, ‘Well, I guess it's just stuff.'”

Young's most emotional words are reserved for reflecting on the outpouring of support his family received from what he called their “church family” as well as other area residents.

“It was one of the most heartwarming things you could ever ask for,” he said. “It was such a blessing.”

Even though the homes of the Sanders and Miller were spared during the surge – though Miller's basement flooded due to a disaster-related sump pump malfunction – they felt the impact. They, alongside Young and other students in the Marion Home School Assistance Program, shared their stories later that year for the program's annual Writers Workshop collection, "Our Stories From the Flood of 2008."

The students not sharing their stories are in a way contributing to the narrative. The flood hit disproportionately affected areas within the Cedar Rapids Community School District, which has lost 851 students within the last five years. In terms of people, that is the largest enrollment decrease in the state during that time frame and almost three times the dip of the district with the second biggest student loss.

Student population declines led the district to close both Polk and Monroe elementary schools in 2012.

Many of the Marion program students were affected by the loss of their favorite places. Alex Coleman lamented the temporary loss of the Paramount Theatre, where she performed in a recital only weeks before the surge.

“I was in tears because it's where we danced,” said the 14 year old from Robins, recalling her family's visit to downtown Cedar Rapids to view the destruction. “It looked like Atlantis.”

The Sanders siblings still miss the downtown branch of the Cedar Rapids Public Library, a place they visited frequently and which Jordan called “the best library ever” five years ago. Nick wrote about having to wait until he was 8 to visit the rebuilt structure again.

“It's still not ready,” he said.