The mayor of the northern Iowa town of Charles City is calling for a full study of the Cedar Valley watershed to see if any long-term projects would prevent flooding like last year along the Cedar River from Charles City to Cedar Rapids.
Mayor Jim Erb says he believes there’s more water entering the river during rain showers than in the past. "We certainly need to look at the Cedar Valley watershed as a whole including all of the rural areas, because it appeared to me this was closer to a flash flood than anything else," Erb says.
"Water is getting into the rivers faster and thus, the response time has been shortened down." Erb says it appears the Cedar River water levels have been higher with large rainfall events.
He says the amount of impact from record water heights is also in play and he says the whole river needs to be viewed as what the individual communities do won’t stop further problem unless the entire watershed is studied.
The Cedar River rose to a record of 25-and-a-third feet last June 9th, besting the old record of 22.81 feet set in 1999.