Articles Tagged: Flood 2008

Time has passed quickly, but it will soon be the 15th anniversary of the flood that changed Cedar Rapids and other parts of Eastern Iowa forever.

Residents are pushing back as more homes were referred Tuesday to a Linn County panel to initiate eminent domain proceedings as the city of Cedar Rapids looks to finalize home acquisitions for flood control in the Northwest Neighborhood.

Cedar Rapids officials at looking at the impacts of high inflation and construction costs on the permanent flood control. The system is estimated to cost $750 million, but that figure has likely grown, so the city’s assessing the scope to ensure projects planned can be done within budget.

As Cedar Rapids looks to acquire over 20 homes in the Time Check area for flood control system construction, a homeowner has appealed the city’s acquisition. The levee the city’s looking to build is still in the design phase.

A condemnation hearing Wednesday provided the first test that city officials and neighbors are looking to as the precedent for how future eminent domain proceedings may pan out for the city’s flood control system.

Colleagues say that Sandi Fowler, the deputy city manager who has worked for the city of Cedar Rapids for more than 30 years, is a true public servant who always kept citizens at the center of decision-making.

“You don’t often get the chance to reprogram 130 acres in the middle of your city,” council member Tyler Olson said of the effort to craft a greenway plan to transform the 130-acre space along the west side of the Cedar River.

The authors of “Our Towns,” the book that inspired an HBO documentary, told a local audience Wednesday that Cedar Rapids is leading in the way it has recovered from recent disasters, and in the steps it’s taking to address the climate crisis.

As rainfall has increased — a symptom of our warming atmosphere — the frequency of flooding has intensified. Now, river-adjacent communities like Cedar Rapids are turning away from flood mitigation to instead make room for the water.

To make the most of a disaster scenario and pave a path for a strong recovery, Iowa city leaders say they must uplift the businesses that keep the community’s economic wheels turning. Here’s how some have turned adversity into opportunity.

The City Manager’s 1-Bag Challenge has inspired residents to pick up more than 23,000 bags of litter in the last 10 years. To celebrate, the city is holding a litter pick-up event from 5 to 7 p.m. Tuesday at McGrath Ampitheatre.

The nearly 18,000 piece collection has a home once again.

In a walking tour of Cedar Rapids flood infrastructure with Iowa Republican U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst, city officials said they plan to seek $50 million through the DOT’s Bridge Investment Program to fund the reconstruction of the Eighth Avenue bridge.

Two Maryland artists have worked on two murals in Cedar Rapids’ Time Check neighborhood, beautifying one of the areas in town that was hit hardest by the 2008 flood.

The city of Cedar Rapids could get a $50 million boost toward construction of its $750 million permanent flood control system if draft language of federal legislation is signed into law and Congress appropriates funding.