Mostly good news on flood front

The Gazette Editorial Board

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So Eastern Iowa dodged the really big wet one over the weekend.

Flooding, once predicted to reach the fourth-highest level in history on the Cedar River in Cedar Rapids, eased to a crest of 18.23 feet early Sunday, a tie for 10th on the all-time list.

In Johnson County, anxious eyes on the Coralville Lake saw relief when forecasts of water pouring over the emergency spillway were scaled back to a crest about a half-foot below by this Friday.

Much drier weather arrived just in time. And a faulty gauge upstream in Waterloo gave a reading that inflated the earlier Cedar River predictions.

Whew!

While we didn't escape all flood damage, it could have been much worse. No repeat of 2008 or anywhere close to that monster event. We can all be grateful for that.

The weekend was not without tragedy, however. At least one life apparently was lost to the floodwaters when a 5-year-old Cedar Rapids boy was rescued from Indian Creek but died later.

Certainly, the cliche “we're not out of the woods yet” still applies to our region. If we get another extended round heavy rain anytime soon, before the saturated ground has time to drain, the major flooding risk returns. The situation in the Iowa City area is especially tentative.

Still, it's encouraging that the vast majority of reports about local government response to the flooding threats have been positive.

For example, local leaders in Time Check and New Bohemia, two Cedar Rapids neighborhoods devastated in 2008, had praise for city workers' quick actions as well as the efforts of volunteers and private businesses who helped sandbag and move equipment and household goods.

It was evident in Linn and Johnson counties that authorities had learned and applied lessons from 2008. For one, Cedar Rapids Mayor Ron Corbett noted that the city's water wells had been raised and electrical substations relocated to higher ground, which allowed city staff more focus on other flood protection work this time around.

So the weekend news was mostly good. However, the learning shouldn't stop here. Working with Mother Nature, not just arming against her, must be an ongoing effort.

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