Flood scare should reset the Cedar Rapids flood protection conversation

(Sunday's print column, delayed due to a technical glitch. The crest didn't turn out to be as high as expected, so this may be a little stale, but I think the points I make about the flood protection conversation are still valid.)

In retrospect, I regret cracking wise.

During the drought, I joked more than once about the Cedar River being so shallow that we could probably stroll across to commemorate the fifth anniversary of 2008's mega flood. Oh the irony.

Instead, the river rose to the occasion and crashed our anniversary. Oh, the humanity.

How high did it go? I'm writing this on Friday, when a 19.9-foot crest was forecast to arrive sometime today. If that changed, please grab a red pen and make a quick edit.

When the Cedar River's muddy onslaught started tickling the bellies of our bridges once again, among the first places that floated to mind was Little Bohemia, the historic tavern on the south end of the thriving New Bohemia neighborhood. The 2008 flood knocked it out of commission for a couple of years. But it came back, better than ever.

DIFFICULT SCENE

So I drove down there Thursday night. The scene was difficult to digest.

The bar was sandbagged, along with most of the buildings and businesses in the neighborhood, including Parlor City, another great joint, the New Bo City Market, open not even a year, and others. Volunteers had filled many of those bags during the day.

Heavy equipment with flood lights and yellow flashers moved sand and big concrete covers to block storm sewer intakes and manholes. City workers were all over the place.

Inside the bar, folks talking were saying what I was thinking.

“I can't believe we have to do this again,” said Jeff Melsha, who runs the bar. For 25 years, the only water he had to handle was from the tap. Now, two floods in five years. One epic, one now dredging up bad memories. Glance up from your stool toward the ceiling, and you'll see the 2008 flood line. Look around the joint, and you'll see the hard work of recovery.

On Friday, preparations continued in the New Bohemia neighborhood. But there was cautious optimism with each hour that the crest prediction didn't rise and the sky remained blue.

I've heard a lot of talk in the last few days about people being very apprehensive and worried about what might happen. It's entirely natural and to be expected.

But I also think this is a smarter, tougher city than it was five years ago. From City Hall on down to the corner tavern, nobody was getting caught flat-footed this time. River forecasts are a valuable and increasingly accurate guide, but our instincts tell us forecasts can change in a hurry. Thanks to 2008, the unbelievable is believable and the unthinkable is something to think about.

Call it alarmist or an overreaction, but I can't blame anyone for being unwilling to take risks after seeing up close how much you can lose. If it turns out to be unnecessary, say a prayer of thanks.

RESET BUTTON

Regardless of how this turned out (again, I'm writing on Friday), we were basically a deluge or two away from a disaster. More heavy rain to our north in the watershed, and it could have been really bad. It wouldn't have been 2008, but there's a lot of waterlogged misery between here and 31 feet. And that misery was entirely possible, which is entirely sobering.

I've heard some people refer to this as a wake-up call. But I actually see it as a reset button.

We've had a long rancorous debate about permanent flood protection. Two tax measures to help pay for it on both banks were defeated. East-side protection is subject to the whims of Congress and the bureaucracy. And now, we've seen the Cedar River swell into a powerful, daunting threat once again and too soon.

How do we live with that threat? It's a conversation that I think the community still hasn't finished. And I think we need to reset that conversation, move past all the wreckage, rhetoric and recriminations left from past fights and renew our best effort to protect what we value. We may need to think beyond flood walls and levees, and beyond the city itself. Flooding is a regional issue. And it's not just about how we stop water, but also how we use land.

Clean slate. Get creative, Creative Corridor.

We can wait for the feds or somebody else to do it, or this community can rise to the occasion.