Eastern Iowa hit with flash flooding, power outages, downed trees

Iowa lost a lot of trees today. Some came down in the winds, which topped 70-miles an hour just north of Cedar Rapids.

In one yard, two old trees came down and destroyed a garage. One of the trees uprooted and then fell on the other one.

Cedar Rapids figures it lost nearly 30 city trees today, some of them uprooted, others split in half or severely damaged. Oakland Cemetery in Iowa City lost some trees too, just to name a few spots. And there's concern all this rain could make it a lot easier for more trees to come down.

"Right now with the fully saturated soils and the rains in the last few days, if it's a top heavy tree and if the tree also has a shallow base of roots, it will fall over,” said Craig Hanson, Cedar Rapids Public Works.

Of course tonight's rain won't help matters. Some parking lots became pools or lakes. We found a car stranded in the K-Mart lot off of Collins Road.

And many Eastern Iowans are going to be spending tonight drying out their basements. We took many calls into the newsroom about water just pouring in.

The National Weather Service says 1.6 inches of rain fell in the Cedar Rapids area and a total of 2.27 inches of rain has fallen today in Iowa City.

A flash flood warning is in place for the following counties as water in street and in creeks rises: Linn, Johnson, Cedar and Benton.

Flash flooding on Center Point Road

Street damaged by water

Power out to thousands

Alliant Energy spokesman said at 7:30 p.m. tonight that 5,400 customers in Linn County were without power and crews were working to restore service as quickly and safely as possible.

MidAmerican Energy reports at 11 p.m. that 3,994customers are without power in the Iowa City area.

Storm photos

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Earlier storm caused tree damage

• A line of strong thunderstorms made its way across Eastern Iowa knocking down some trees and causing some minor power outages earlier Friday. Read more and see the photos.
• Wind gusts near 65 mph uprooted trees Friday in southeast Cedar Rapids, tearing down power lines and destroying a garage. Read more and see the photos.