Chapter 15 Review

Book Review: A Watershed Year Anatomy of the Iowa Floods of 2008 Edited by Cornelia F. Mutel

15. Economic Losses from the Floods by: Daniel Otto

In 2008 the flood in Iowa was one of the country’s expensive disasters. The flood of 2008 overall was not as expensive as the one in 1993, but that was mainly because it didn’t cause much damage to other states.  However, the 2008 flood caused much more structural and human damage in Iowa than the one in 1993. This was most true for Cedar Rapids and Iowa City. Both of these cities suffered extensive damage.

In 1993 most of the damage was agricultural. Many of the states affected lost harvests and because of this loss crop prices increased dramatically nationwide. Crops were not affected as much in 2008 because farmers had time to replant their crops (flooding mainly happened in early June and flooding was centered in Iowa).  In total Iowa soybean and corn producers lost 836.4 million dollars. This number mainly represents the losses by farmers in eastern Iowa because it was the area where flooding was concentrated.

Iowa’s infrastructure suffered a good amount of damage. The utilities sector suffered a total of 408 million dollars and bridges suffered 125 million dollars in damage. Most of this damage was suffered because of high waters (mold). The Department of Transportation stated that the railroads in Iowa suffered 68-83 million dollars’ worth of damage.

Structurally the costs were immense. Housing damage was at 946 million dollars, which is a substantial amount. Much of this cost was in eastern Iowa. Many houses had to be destroyed because of flood water damage. FEMA labeled houses as unlivable, which is similar to what it did during the 1993 floods.

In conclusion the 2008 flood was a lot more destructive in-state than the floods of 1993.The 1993 did more damage on the national level.There was a lot of damage done, but like in 1993 the people in Iowa rebuilt and refurnished. The total cost of damage for the flood is listed at 3 billion dollars (public property and public infrastructure). Most of the damage was done in Johnson and Linn counties. The total cost does not include the sales losses by businesses.

Personal Review: This chapter was interesting because it gave all the costs of the 2008 flooding, but I wish it was broken down more. It stated that eastern Iowa was damaged the most but nothing was said about the individual communities. This was similar with the way it talked about Linn and Johnson counties. I just feel like more information could have been given.