116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
Cedar Rapids' 'tiger dam' flood barriers going up in two spots
So far, so good: The city's new temporary system of flood-protection barriers - called tiger dams - are going up along flash-flood-prone Indian Creek in the Sun Valley neighborhood.
All is going well with the effort, Craig Hanson, the city's public works maintenance manager, said Thursday morning.
City crews, he said, are getting ready to construct the barriers at a second flood-prone spot along Indian Creek, at 31st Street Drive SE at Sydney Street SE.
On Cottage Grove Parkway SE at Sun Valley, some 2,000 feet of the water-filled tiger dams are going up, which is the equivalent of 40,000 sandbags, Hanson said. The same level of protection is slated for the 31st Street Drive SE location, he added.
He said the creek's rise is expected to be lower than in August 2009, when the city also wrestled with the creek at Sun Valley, he said.
Mike Leaven with the Cedar Rapids Public Works Department fills a Tiger Dam flood protection barrier with water in a garage at the the Public Works Department in March 2010. City employees were practiciey arng deploying the temporary flood protection devices. Each tube contains 740 gallons of water and displaces the need to make 500 sandbags. (Brian Ray/The Gazette)
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