12/6/2023 0 Comments Cedar rapids rainfall totals![]() The floods of '93 started with the wet fall of 1992, followed by heavy snowfall in the 1992-93 winter over the Upper Mississippi River basin. ' Halted barge traffic for nearly two months on the Mississippi and Missouri rivers. ' Caused record flooding in the Iowa, Des Moines and Skunk river basins. ' Knocked out the water plant in Des Moines, leaving 250,000 people in Iowa's largest city without running water for two weeks thousands more went without electricity. Dubuque Street, the main entryway to Iowa City, was closed for more than two months. ' Closed Interstate 380 for two weeks in mid-July, and Highways 151 and 965 even longer. The persistent, heavy rainfall and flooding: In Iowa, flooding started in late March and peaked in July. Levees collapsed and people fled for their lives. Three days later, the Mississippi River crested at a record 47 feet in St. ![]() Though subsequent floods have dulled recollections, that year's flooding was unheard of in the United States, affecting 320,000 square miles and causing an estimated $15 billion in damages - roughly $26 billion in today's dollars.Ĭlinton convened a July 17, 1993, flood summit with Midwest governors in St. The ‘93 floods swamped eight Midwest states, lasting 200 days in some places, according to the National Weather Service.Īt the time, the flooding was an unprecedented disaster, causing billions in damage to homes and businesses and wiping out the '93 corn and soybean crops. It was so bad across Iowa that President Bill Clinton took the unprecedented step by mid-July of declaring the entire state a federal disaster.Īnd it wasn't just Iowa. You will begin to receive our Daily News updates. Add your contacts. Still, flood stage is exceeded above 12 feet. Ultimately, the Cedar River in Cedar Rapids crested at a little more than 19 feet, far below the record-setting deluge on 2008. 'We were really all kind of nervous about what was the river going to do,” Houser said. Preparing for the worst, officials performed elevation measurements on May's Island, as well as on the nearby Linn County Sheriff's Office, to see if projections surpassed the elevations of the public facilities. Linn County Supervisor James Houser, who served on the board in 1993, recalls trepidation as talk of flooding filled the community. It was physically and mentally disabling to put in that much effort and have to deal with the disaster to begin with and try to recover and get back to normal, only to experience it a second time.” 'It went back down relatively quickly, in a few days it had receded,” Lundell recalled. Floodwater hit homes and businesses, but soon subsided, allowing property owners to begin cleanup efforts.
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