4. The University of Iowa and the Flood by Barbara Eckstein and Rodney Lehnertz
Both the University of Iowa and Iowa City were founded in
1840. They share the main street which now is home to the universities, east
side of the river, main Power Plant, Water Plant, Main Library, the English-
Philosophy Building, Iowa Memorial Union, and the Iowa Advanced Technology Laboratories.
On the west side of the river there is the C. Maxwell Stanley Hydraulics Laboratory,
the Art Building and Art Building West, the Museum of Art, the Theatre
Building, Voxman Music Building, Clapp Recital Hall, and Hancher Auditorium. All
of these buildings are in the flood plain, meaning that they are all flood
risks. Most of the buildings were built after the Coralville dam, which is
found 8 river miles upstream from downtown Iowa City.
During the 1993 flood the university suffered 6 million dollars of damage (Cook 2008). After the flood the university decided that it needed a new way to deal with the floods so it formed the Flood EmergencyResponse Plan (FERP). University officials, after the winter and wet spring, believed that they would have to put the plan into use in 2008.
The University of Iowa Flood Response:
June 3, 2008
University of Iowa staff starts to sandbag Mayflower
Residence Hall because of rising water
June 4, 2008
Students, those that stayed for summer, in the Mayflower
Residence Hall are evacuated. People are told to avoid Dubuque Street.
June 5, 2008
Sandbagging on the west and east side of the river increases
because of heavy rainfalls upstream. Officials believed that the increased
release rate at Coralville Reservoir would cause water to overflow the dam’s emergency
spillways. This would create substantial flooding in the area.
June 6, 2008
There was a call for more volunteers to help with the
sandbagging. Officials increased organized efforts to protect the campus.
June 7, 2008
The Arts Campus was told it would have to relocate because
of the flood.
June 9, 2008
The classes at the Art Campus were suspended, and other
University Offices were relocated because of the danger on the river. Museum of
Art began to implement its disaster prevention plan.
June 10, 2008
The emergency spillways at the Coralville Reservoir are topped
by water.
June 11, 2008
Art Campus starts to become flooded. Other buildings are in
danger of becoming flooded, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The National
Guard arrives on the plea of the university president.
June 12, 2008
The flood waters go over the amounts seen in 1993. Iowa
Memorial Union and University Book Store are evacuated. Parents and students
are evacuated after freshmen orientation. Strong rains that day make it clear
that flooding would only increase.
June 13, 2008
Volunteers move 10,000 books from the Main Library to higher
levels. Summer classes and summer events are canceled because of high flood waters.
June 14, 2008
Power Plant was lost. There was 21 feet of standing water in
the planet. Sandbagging continued, and even intensified on the east side of the
river. Nurses were brought in from the Quad Cities to help with the University
of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics.
June 15, 2008
Four more building flooded. However, the water started to recede.
In total 22 major buildings were flooded. More than 500 tons of sandbags were
taken to areas that still needed them.
Summer Classes resumed June 23, 2008
In Iowa City the flood of 2008 was a lot more destructive
and expensive than the one in 1993. In total the 2008 flood did 283 million
dollars of damage to the University. This amount was 40 times more than what
the 1993 damage cost.
Cook, Diana. 2008. Former Director of Risk Management,
University of Iowa. E-mail communications to Rodney
Lehnertz, December 2008.
Cook, Diana. 2008. Former Director of Risk Management,
University of Iowa. E-mail communications to Rodney
Lehnertz, December 2008.
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