A popular public beach in northeast Iowa has finally reopened, four years after it was destroyed by flood waters. Lori Eberhard is the manager of George Wyth State Park sits between Waterloo and Cedar Falls.
She says the nearly $100,000 in repairs included the hauling in of 1,000 tons of sand. “We had to reconfigure the beach because the sand got moved all over the place,” Eberhard says. “We used an underwater camera to make sure there wasn’t any debris, dumpsters, picnic tables, or anything that got washed into the lake. And we had a new restroom brought in that was put in on the dike.”
The Federal Emergency Management Agency picked up 90% of the repair bill, while the state paid for the balance. Eberhard says the concessions building still needs repaired and it may take a year to year-and-a-half to complete that project.
The beach was reopened last weekend and Eberhard estimated there were about 600 people there last Sunday and Monday. An official ribbon-cutting ceremony to mark the reopening of the beach at George Wyth Lake is scheduled for next Monday (June 4) at 5:30 p.m.