Rain or shine: National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library will be moved Saturday

CEDAR RAPIDS – Since the weather won't cooperate, movers of the National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library are resorting to Plan B.

Workers on Friday were placing heavy, metal plates on the ground to enable the building to be pivoted and moved on Saturday morning.

“Instead of a soil road, it's a metal road,” museum spokeswoman Diana Baculis said.

The museum was moved off its foundation June 8 and about 240 feet to the north.

Since then, nearly daily rains have prevented further progress. The road built for the move has become slick and potholes have developed.

Baculis said the building will be pivoted 90 degrees on Saturday, so the river side of the museum will become the front.

Workers will then roll the building another 200 feet or so to position it in front of its new foundation, on top of a parking garage.

Baculis said the move will begin sometime in the morning and would only stop in case of lightning or a downpour.

The process could take the entire day; the pivot itself will likely take hours.

More rain is forecast throughout the weekend.

Jeremy Patterson Structural Moving & Shoring of Washington, Iowa, has a crew of about 25 workers moving the 1,740-ton building.

Patterson said the building is the largest museum moved for hazard mitigation. In 2008, the museum, at 30 16

^th

Ave. SW, was inundated by floodwaters from the Cedar River.

The building will be raised 11 feet higher than its current elevation, or three feet above the 2008 flood level.

See video feeds of the museum site at: www.NCSML.org

A livestream will be available at both

www.TheGazette.com and

www.KCRG.com on Saturday.