Residents evacuate Cedar Rapids homes ahead of rising water levels

CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA » Several thousand residents of Cedar Rapids left their homes Sunday as floodwaters began to spill out of the rising Cedar River, and Iowa’s second-largest city worked to apply the lessons officials learned after the record 2008 flood.

The river crested Saturday night in Waterloo and Cedar Falls, which are about 55 miles upstream from Cedar Rapids, which is Iowa’s second-largest city, with about 130,000 people.

The water levels in Cedar Falls and Waterloo were slightly lower than had been expected, but they still reached levels that were second only to those in 2008, when a major flood devastated the region.

The National Weather Service predicted that the river will crest at 23 feet in Cedar Rapids on Tuesday morning — well below the 2008 record of 31.12 feet. Officials asked those living in about 5,000 downtown homes near the river to evacuate. They said it could be days before people can return home.

The Cedar Rapids school district said Sunday that it is canceling classes through Wednesday because of the flooding. District officials will reevaluate the situation by Wednesday afternoon.

Cedar Rapids City Manager Jeff Pomeranz said the city has been preparing to deal with a major flood since that of 2008, which caused billions of dollars of damage. City workers and volunteers have been working for days to build a temporary system of levees to try to contain the floodwaters.

“All the work is coming together, and you can see the benefit of planning and preparation,” Pomeranz said.

After the 2008 flood, about 1,350 homes near the Cedar River were bought out and destroyed to reduce the amount of damage that future floods could inflict. About 45 acres of green space sit in that area today.

On Sunday morning, more than 100 volunteers helped remove the seats from the restored Paramount Theater in Cedar Rapids and move them up to the second floor to protect them from floodwaters. The theater was heavily damaged in the 2008 flood because it is one block from the Cedar River, and it cost $35 million to restore.

Unlike in 2008, residents have had more time to prepare for a flood. The benefit of that extra time was clear in the small town of Palo upstream where residents of more than 80 homes evacuated.

BRANDON POLLOCK — THE COURIER VIA AP People view the flooding on the Cedar River in downtown Waterloo, Iowa, Saturday.

TIFFANY RUSHING — THE COURIER VIA AP Flood waters close McCoy Road on Saturday in Evansdale, Iowa. Authorities in several Iowa cities were mobilizing resources Friday to handle flooding from a rain-swollen river that has forced evacuations in several communities upstream.

BRE MCGEE — THE FREE PRESS VIA AP Mike Baer, left, Brad O’Donnell and Todd Huxford stand near the edge of the flooded Le Sueur River across Park Street North Saturday in St. Clair, Minn.

BRANDON POLLOCK — THE COURIER VIA AP The tops of mailboxes barely break the surface of floodwaters from the Cedar River in the North Cedar neighborhood of Cedar Falls, Iowa, Saturday.