Cedar Rapids Flood 2008

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Clean Up: First Impressions

Well today it was time to start the dirty work. I have offered my clean up services to a few friends and businesses I frequented before the flood. The South West side was the location of the work today; at my friends house. She was one of the lucky ones as her house sits a few feet higher than her neighbors. The water flooded her basement to within 3" of the floor above.

It was pretty much what I was expecting though the stench was not as bad as I had anticipated. They had already been at work for an hour or two before I arrived and the 5 piles of separated garbage were starting to take shape curb-side. Like wise many of the homes in the area had the ultra-amnesty garbage day appeal.

After the greetings to the assembled cleaning crew and donning my make-shift haz-mat suit I descended the basement stairs for the first of many times that day. What greeted me at the bottom was a dark, droopy mess of family memorabilia from 3 generations. Dark because there was no power to the house and the entire 3 room basement was lit by 2 lights running from a generator. Droopy because if it was wood or cardboard it was sagging. A mess because as the water drained things settled in odd places with a slimy layer of black muck over the top of everything.

We took a mid day break and walked the neighborhood and found extensive damage to many of the homes. Missing foundations water damage, cars that had been submerged and general junk from who knows where.

We made a big dent and managed to clean out 3/4 of the basement. Tomorrow will be getting the big items up out of there and doing a bleach and power-wash job on the entire basement. So time for a shower!

I have pictures of the clean up still to post, so stay tuned.

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Traffic Relief

As of 7am this morning the Downtown Bridges have been reopened to the public and I-380 left lane restriction has been lifted. The intersections downtown do not have signals, so they are all being treated as a 4-way stop intersection. The curfew for flood affected areas is still in effect.

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

It's in the Air

The flood waters have started to recede, at some what of a rapid pace in some areas. I drove, with a friend, down I-380 last night. As we entered the affected area of downtown we were slapped in the face with the strangest combination of smells, none of which were pleasant. I have a strong constitution but that stench even made me nauseous. We're gonna need a whole lot a respirator masks.........and rubber boots.