Maybe next time they'll build in a safer location.

mobile homes

Beach houses on their way to the ocean

Glad I live a really safe state, Florida.

Well not to far to go to catch a train. Miserable for trying to sleep though.

Holy shiat.

Cool. Someone's almost managed to collect the whole set.

This happened in 1993, I remember.

ninetywt: Maybe next time they'll build in a safer location.

Good one. I lol'd.

/Nawlins?
//Tornado alley?
///San Fransisco?

And there's Moderate risk for severe weather today...The Cedar's starting to go down, but the Iowa's still rising.

/much love to the Corridor

Looks like a whole bunch of those little plastic Monopoly game hotels, all bunched together.

Idiot builders skipped step 3!

How to Build a House:

Step 1 The Foundation
Step 2 The Frame
Step 3 The Anchor
Step 4 The Roof
Step 5 The Windows
Step 6 The Exterior
Step 7 The Interior

Should that be "in" the Cedar River?

...or up the creek...

I feel bad for these guys. At least they don't have looters like New Orleans.

I'd say something snarky, but that is terrible. Woulda coulda shoulda aside, these are real peoples lives.

row, row, row your punt gently down the stream, belts off, trousers down, life is but a dream

wow

Jeez! That is really terrible! I feel so bad for these people. I was reading where one lady was told "Oh no, it's not a flood zone." So she didn't get flood insurance. Man that sucks!

Sometimes I'm glad I live in a desert.

It's not as amazing as it seems. Those are house boats that used to be parked in Ellis Park in Cedar Rapids.

Luckily for Bush this isn't a "chocolate city" or this would be all his fault.

Those are houseboats guys, they are supposed to float. They came from Ellis Park, upstream. We all thought they were going to knock down the railroad bridge...

//CR resident
///High & dry, luckily

dofus: Someone's almost managed to collect the whole set.

I laughed.

ninetywt: Maybe next time they'll build in a safer location.

Most of Iowa does not flood. Rivers generally don't peak 30 feet above their norm. This is not one of those cases where the people should have seen it coming. This is one of those instances where nature decided to be a real coont. If you've missed it, the entire state is basically in a state of disaster; either flooding, potential for flooding, tornadoes, and even drought, as odd as that sounds.

dayum

uptonogood: This is not one of those cases where the people should have seen it coming.

I beg to differ. This is what happens when you spend millions to beautify the riverfront by building concrete walls and pinching the flow of the river, it has nowhere to go but up.

Iowans learned nothing from 1993.

Well, there goes the neighborhood.

Looks like a Waterworld neighborhood.

Zmog: Well, there goes the neighborhood.

ha!!

Is_What_It_Is: Luckily for Bush this isn't a "chocolate city" or this would be all his fault.

Except that unlike N'Aulins, relief for Cedar Rapids has been quick and relatively efficient.

Could you imagine looking at that photo and realizing one of the houses is yours? How traumatic. Especially if you grew up in it, etc.

Sorry to all of you dealing with this.

Welcome to Iowa. Tornadoes destroyed two towns a couple weeks ago (a few miles from where I live). We get farking evacuated because the Cedar River decides to be a raging biatch. And then evacuated from where we were evacuated to. And then stranded. etc, etc, and then OH YEAH. There was another tornado last night.

fark. IOWA.

cazman: Iowans learned nothing from 1993.

Iowa learned A LOT from 1993. This was a hell of a lot worse. Beat all of the records by insane margins. But in most cases, the only reason half the state wasn't destroyed was because of levees and other flood protection put up after 1993. The only reason most of the cities along the Cedar River, including Cedar Falls and Waterloo aren't destroyed are because their post-1993 levees held.

HouseBOATS.

Plus, the Iowa River hit the 500 year flood plain. Yeah. Odds of happening. Once in every 500 years.

Wow... They've managed to collect the Rail Road and lots of Houses... I'm gonna stop playing now since the next time around I'll most likely have to mortgage Park Place.

Welcome to Iowa. Tornadoes destroyed two towns a couple weeks ago (a few miles from where I live). We get farking evacuated because the Cedar River decides to be a raging biatch. And then evacuated from where we were evacuated to. And then stranded. etc, etc, and then OH YEAH. There was another tornado last night.

And it's supposed to snow tomorrow!

/not really

Is_What_It_Is: Luckily for Bush this isn't a "chocolate city" or this would be all his fault.

Nice +1

Is_What_It_Is: Luckily for Bush this isn't a "chocolate city" or this would be all his fault.

Except that unlike N'Aulins, relief for Cedar Rapids has been quick and relatively efficient.

And all of it State and Local: no biatching and whining about wanting Federal help in the immediate relief effort.

Of course, much of this will be declared a Federal Disaster Area (eligible for loans and whatnot) so the Feds will help out eventually. But Iowa (and others in the midwest) need to be held out as an example of self-reliance in the face of a disaster.

It's a BRIDGE...
HOUSE!!!

OWWWWWwwwWW


It's mighty mighty!

Just lettin' in all hang out.

Iron D

Except that unlike N'Aulins, relief for Cedar Rapids has been quick and relatively efficiently coordinated by the correct local authorities, who prepared their levees without massive amounts of corruption.

Added context for you.

Earpj: Jeez! That is really terrible! I feel so bad for these people. I was reading where one lady was told "Oh no, it's not a flood zone." So she didn't get flood insurance. Man that sucks!

Sometimes I'm glad I live in a desert.

Problem with deserts is that they do get rain storms now and then, and since the land is not used to soaking up water, heavy flash floods occur.

And with climate change accelerating, we're already seeing a lot of previously low-rainfall areas receiving more, and moderate rainfall areas will begin to dry out.

There aren't too many places in the world where theres no kind of natural disaster potential.

TheDirtyNacho: There aren't too many places in the world where theres no kind of natural disaster potential.

curious: i wonder what the safest geographical area is, statistically speaking.

Great Subby now i want a house boat....

Sammy Jenkins: Bush doesn't care about black poor people.

FTFY

So, is Cedar Rapids going to become a Chocolate City?

FlashHarry: TheDirtyNacho: There aren't too many places in the world where theres no kind of natural disaster potential.

curious: i wonder what the safest geographical area is, statistically speaking.

Right where i live, no natural disasters in a lot of years...

In the case of these particular structures- marinas and other floating structures are built like light-frame barns or sheds, except that they float on either pontoons or (more commonly) blocks of styrofoam. They are tethered to the bottom of the body of water (and sometimes the shore) with steel cables attached to very large anchors (we used, for instance, old oil drums impaled with rebar, filled with cement). The other end of the cable is attached to a winch, which can be adjusted as water levels rise and fall- to a point.

When the water level gets too high or wind forces become too great, many structures like this run out of winch cable, or the anchor becomes dislodged, or in some cases, the cable snaps. At which point, these structures become boats and begin to go up the crick, sans paddle. The photo here shows a gaggle of these structures at a railroad bridge, as someone else mentioned here earlier.

During one severe thunderstorm, our family's marina saw 130 mph straight-line winds, popping 6 3/4" steel anchor cables. When they snapped, the sound was like a 12-gauge shotgun about 3x.

http://cedarrapids.craigslist.org/rfs/720459081.html

We take our 5th-wheel up to the Midwest almost every year, around April-June, doing courthouse research (genealogy). We had intended to be in southeast & central Iowa by now. I'm almost glad gas is so expensive that we decided to pass on the trip this year.

/live in Katrina country