Flood Recovery

City Hall on Tuesday unveiled a picture of what the city’s new Public Works Facility will look like once it is in place in 2014. The image comes as city officials prepare to hold an open house on Wednesday, from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m., on the second floor of the existing Public Works Facility, 1201 [...]

The University of Iowa next week will give an update on the rebuilding of Hancher Auditorium, the School of Music and the Art Building facility, as well as Iowa Memorial Union repairs and flood mitigation. The forum will be at 6:30 p.m. Feb. 7, in the large auditorium of Art Building West, 141 N. Riverside [...]

CEDAR RAPIDS — At face value, the two flood-damaged buildings in the middle of the New Bohemia district might seem unworthy of repair. But businessman Jon Jelinek saw things differently, and now the homes will be restored with the help of a $50,000 challenge grant through Main Street Iowa. “It’s going to complete that side [...]

Six University of Iowa pianos moved to rented space in 2008 to avoid floodwaters have sustained heavy water damage from a leaky toilet and sink pipe at the building where they’d been moved. University spokesman Tom Moore told the Iowa City Press-Citizen that an Iowa City police officer noticed water coming from the building a [...]

For local government officials and other stakeholders, Thursday was the first step toward the future of Indian Creek. It’s also developing a model for tackling larger Iowa waterways. “It’s to listen to them, about what they want for their watershed and what they’re thinking about,” said Stacy Langsdale. Langsdale, of the Army Corps of Engineers’ [...]

The Iowa Flood Center has doubled the number of its flood sensors across the state. Center engineer Dan Ceynar told the Iowa City Press Citizen the online database fed by the 100 sensors provides real-time monitoring of water levels in Iowa’s rivers and streams. Using an internal cell modem, the sensors update the database every [...]

Senator Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, today said the University of Iowa’s building replacement projects for Hancher Voxman Clapp and the Studio Arts Building, all damaged in the 2008 flood, will receive funds from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The Hancher Voxman Clapp Building was awarded $74.2 million and the Studio [...]

Liz Motsinger sees the odds stacked against her. The 55-year-old Marion woman is almost single-handedly trying to save a historic church from demolition. “Don’t it always seem to go that you don’t know what you’ve got til it’s gone,” Motsinger said, quoting Joni Mitchell’s “Big Yellow Taxi” song, known for its lyrics: “They paved paradise [...]

CEDAR RAPIDS — The painstaking restoration of a century-plus-old building is reaping visual rewards. Owner Michael Richards has been working on the exterior of the Matyk Building, 1029 Third St. SE, to return the structure to its historic look. “It’s really tedious to get paint off of brick,” said Richards, who removed the building’s whitewash [...]

IOWA CITY — University of Iowa officials had a conference call with Federal Emergency Management Agency officials this week to discuss the university’s appeal regarding the flood-damaged UI Museum of Art. But FEMA officials gave no indication of when they might make a ruling on the UI appeal, which asks the agency to reconsider its [...]