A University of Iowa official told the Board of Regents Wednesday that the school has put several measures in place to be prepared for flooding this spring. The school was hit hard by the floods of 2008 and is still in the process of recovering. U-I senior vice president of finance, Doug True, told the board the school is prepared if flooding develops.
True says the river is flowing at 10,000 cubic feet a second right now, which he says looks like a lot, but it’s hard to believe the flow was four times that much in the summer of 2008. He says they’ve been coordinating with the Corps of Engineers and the National Weather Service.
True says they’ve put bulkheads in the campus tunnels to prevent water from seeping into them, and have talked with the HESCO Company about using their flood barriers. They also acquired a logistics site east of Iowa City where they will keep necessary flood supplies, and have gone through individual building plans so they know the trigger points to begin taking action to keep floodwaters out.
True says they went ahead and purchased several supplies and equipment in anticipation of flooding to be sure they are on hand. He says they purchased supplies and equipment early to be sure they had them because of the enormous demand from the upper midwest due to the large snowmelt that makes flooding possible this spring. He says they have stockpiled the supplies in case they are needed.
True says that includes pumps, sand and the HESCO barriers. He says they have three miles of the HESCO barriers on hand. The barriers are filled with sand and are faster to put in place than sandbags. True told the regents he would have an update on the replacement of the flooded music building at their meeting in April.