Recovery projects helped offset effects of the Great Recession

CEDAR RAPIDS - Although the Flood of 2008 devastated thousands, destroyed homes and damaged infrastructure, there was a light at the end of the tunnel.

In the aftermath of the destruction, people had to rebuild. They needed new homes and repaired businesses. As a result, there was a surge of construction and renovation projects.

“Whenever you have rebuilding after a natural disaster, you're going to have an uptick in

construction and construction-related activities,” Cedar Rapids Mayor Ron Corbett says. “New Orleans saw this, and the people that are recovering from Hurricane Sandy will see similar results that we have.”

The threat of flooding again in 2013 had Cedar Rapids and its residents waiting with bated breath to see if the Cedar River would overflow. According to the National Weather Service, the river reached a flood crest of 18.23 feet at 3:30 a.m. June 2.

Although Cedar Rapids was spared from disaster this time, the city was not so lucky five years ago when the river reached the historic level of 31.12 feet in June 2008. That was the same year the Great Recession gripped much of the nation.

Jason Imhof, vice president of Iowa operations for Miron Construction, says it is hard to say for sure what the construction economy would have been like without the flood.

“I think it would be fair to say that it would have been worse,” Imhof says. “We would have been hit harder by the recession had we not had the flood recovery projects.”

Even with flood recovery projects, a number of construction firms in the area were affected by the recession, he says. That's because there was increased competition from companies outside the market.

“At best, we think it mediated impacts of the recession in your area for a time,” says Dave Swenson, an economist with Iowa State University. “What we ended up with is a trade-off. We had a trade-off for a period of time between lost productivity because of the flood and then recovery productivity, especially right after the flood. They kind of offset each other for the course of the year.”

After the flood, there was initially a lot of private reconstruction work, Imhof says, to get businesses back up and operating.

“Subsequent to that, there was a tremendous spike and increase in public projects,” he says. “For example, the city of Cedar Rapids and Linn County, each of those entities had multiple major projects in this area. It was rare before the flood to see that many major public projects occurring within the Cedar Rapids metro area, all occurring at the same time of that size.”

Floodwater in 2008 covered more than 10 square miles of the city. According to the report “Regional Economic Impacts of the 2008 Cedar Rapids Flood,” experts estimate the flood generated $2.5 billion in losses in Linn County. Statewide losses are estimated at $105.8 million.

Corbett says construction-related dollars that came in after the flood really helped.

“There's been an abundance of work in the last four years, and that has added to one of the reasons we have a lower unemployment rate,” he says.

Corbett says the convention center will allow Cedar Rapids to compete for conventions, sporting events and other attractions.

“That will continue to draw people into the community where they spend money,” Corbett says.