Flood Recovery

CEDAR RAPIDS — On hiatus for two years after the Floods of 2008 wrecked Cedar Rapids neighborhoods, the Neighborhood Revitalization Service is back at work. “We’re not that big of a deal, and yet the neighbors are buying into it,” Jerry McGrane said. “They really take ownership and pride in it, and start fixing things [...]

 City Manager Jeff Pomeranz surely doesn’t sleep in a suit and tie, but you wonder. So it was no surprise to see him pull in last Saturday to clean up litter from a vacant lot wearing a dress shirt, albeit with collar open and shirt tail out. The members of his office staff, who were [...]

  CEDAR RAPIDS — The city’s efforts to recover from and protect against a repeat of the 2008 flood took big steps forward Tuesday on the federal and state fronts: City Hall learned its nearly two-year pursuit of $13.8 million in federal disaster payments for the city’s flood-ruined hydroelectric plant at the 5-in-1 bridge has [...]

UPDATE: The Iowa House has approved a flood mitigation bill that would allow Cedar Rapids and other communities retain some of their sales tax revenue growth to pay for flood protection. On a 76-23 vote, the House approved Senate File 2217 and sent it to the governor. The Senate approved it earlier, 50-0. SF 2217 [...]

  CEDAR RAPIDS — The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s effort to prepare the area for future floods begins Tuesday in Cedar Rapids. “The focus is now on truly identifying risk and helping to mitigate it and deal with it,” said Ginger Dadds, FEMA project manager. “We’re trying to discover what information the community has to [...]

  CEDAR RAPIDS — The fact that thousands of RAGBRAI riders are due to descend on Cedar Rapids in late July is encouraging the city to finish up its demolition of flood-damaged homes. So far, the city has torn down 957 homes and six commercial properties that were damaged beyond repair in the Floods of [...]

DES MOINES — Cedar Rapids residents on Wednesday pressured a legislative panel for more accountability in proposed flood mitigation legislation, but they didn’t provide the specifics lawmakers sought. A five-member House Ways and Means subcommittee heard from representatives of We Can Do Better CR, who raised various concerns with a bill that has been approved [...]

  CEDAR RAPIDS — The opening of the city’s new downtown library is apt to be pushed back as much as four weeks and into July 2013 because of a $1.3 million surprise found during the demolition of the former building on the library site across from Greene Square Park. Bob Pasicznyuk, the city’s library [...]

CEDAR RAPIDS — The city and its flooded neighborhoods, now on the mend, can’t stand still — with or without local funds for flood protection. That’s the take of Linda Seger, president of the Northwest Neighbors Neighborhood Association. Since the March 6 defeat of a referendum to raise that local money, she’s been busy convening [...]

It’s not just timber that is reaching to the sky these days at spots in the floodway along the Cedar River north and west of downtown. At 43 locations along the riverbank, the city is adding 10 additional feet of well casing to the top of each of its vertical wells to ensure that a [...]