The Sinclair Levee built of flood protection in Cedar Rapids includes a bike path on top.

While it has been 10 years since the Cedar River crested at a record flood level of 31 feet to swamp Cedar Rapids, the work on building flood protection still continues.

Assistant City Manager, Sandi Fowler, says high water again two years ago showed the need to keep working. “Certainly we showed in the 2016 flood fight that with Hesco Barriers and berms and a lot of work underground and the stormwater system, that we are able to protect to a certain level. That was a 22 foot crest — but we know we need permanent flood protection,” Fowler says.

Part of the fight has been securing federal dollars to help erect a $375 million permanent flood protection system. “We continue to have lots and lots of conversations to secure the federal funding through many avenues, including the Water Resources Development Act,” Fowler says. “We feel confident that some day the federal government — maybe sooner than later — the federal government will come through with their piece. A piece of it. We certainly have a lot of funding pieces in place.”

Flooded homes in 2008.

She says one of the things they discussed early on was creating flood control that integrated into the communities along the river. Fowler says you can see how the planning and discussions have followed through on that idea. “We just opened the Sinclair levee, it has a bike trail on top of it so you can see the scenic area of Czech Village and NewBo from the top of the levy. So, we want to make sure as we build this flood protection it is going to ensure the economic investment in our community and the protection of homes and businesses,” Fowler says.

Fowler says while flooding is a fact of life along the river — people didn’t want big cement walls between them and the water. “We heard that loud and clear from the neighborhoods and from the community as a whole,” according to Fowler. “We want the flood protection to integrate into the neighborhood. We want it to be transparent, look like the neighborhood that it is in. We don’t want to be cut off from the river.”

She says it’s a part of their heritage. “We’re a river community and we want to make sure that we still celebrate the river as a part of our community — which means exactly that — how do you interact with the river at the same time that you are making sure that you are protecting yourself when things go poorly with it,” Fowler explains. She says they’ve managed to do that so far with the improvements made.

Fowler says they have two pump stations that really are big part of protecting our community from the underground river flowing back into the neighborhoods. She says they also have underground pieces in place in the Czech Village and are building a levee there. “We are about ready to kick off the extension of the Quaker Oats flood wall to protect that big industry in our community. So, there’s a lot of really positive things that are happening that are real flood protection, and we’re really excited about that.”

Fowler says the flood protection goes along with the buyouts of homes in the flood areas to ensure that residents don’t have to go through the same types of losses they suffered in the 2008 flooding.

Aerial view of the 2008 flooding.

Residents of Cedar Rapids are marking the 10th anniversary of record flooding when the Cedar River swallowed up huge portions of the city.

There’s a dedication ceremony planned for the new Northwest Gateway & Memorial Plaza. Assistant City Manager, Sandi Fowler, says the plaza leads into the Time Check neighborhood and includes markers that show the water levels of the flooding

“It also has some images of the houses and families, the actual neighborhood that was there before the 2008 flood,” Fowler says. Fowler says that neighborhood is a good example of how the city responded following the flooding.

“So many of the families were taken out of harms way with the purchase houses in the area that was flooded and so hard hit,” Fowler says. “There’s green space where generations of families had grown up in that area. That is an area that is seeing new housing in areas that are redeveloping as neighborhoods.” Other neighborhoods have also changed in the 10 years.

“Our Kingston Village neighborhood is just bustling with downtown housing now and new commercial areas. And then what people are most familiar with in the last 10 years is the development of the NewBo neighborhood along with Czech Village,” according to Fowler, “really coming back from the flood in a different way than it had been before as a real cultural center, a neighborhood commercial hub — a vibrant area that people go to.” The downtown area of Cedar Rapids has also undergone many changes since the flood waters inundated and surrounded the buildings there in 2008.

The 2008 flooding inundated several Cedar Rapids neighborhoods with water.

“We surpassed most commercial comebacks from natural disasters like this,” Fowler says, “but it was still incredibly devastating. What we’re seeing downtown is incredible regrowth. The city of Cedar Rapids actually ended up purchasing the hotel, the convention center was rebuilt, the arena was redone,” she says. Fowler says talks started about rebuilding soon after the flood waters went down. She says they had to deal with the devastation, but think to the future.

“We never want to diminish how much loss there was. Really families lost everything in a lot of cases,” Fowler explains. “And you never want to diminish that and you want to make sure as you build back — and we did this through a lot of different planning efforts and development efforts — you are going to build better than it was before. You are not just going to put things back they way they were.” She says the efforts to rebuild and include more flood protection and new ideas has helped them overcome the loss from 2008.

“A lot of momentum has happened as a result of that and you see a lot of pride in the community. And those folks who were so devastated by the flood have absolutely been a part of that in rebuilding the community. And I think have a lot of pride in the city as well,” Fowler says.

The plaza features a memorial plaque with the story of the neighborhood. The center of the plaza has a blue light that will shine at night and is symbolic of the blue porch lights that were used to indicate that a home was occupied when the 2008 flood waters receded. The plaza also features a distinctive gateway that will welcome residents or visitors to the site, and a privately-funded sculpture West Side Rising that symbolizes the recovery of the neighborhood and the residents and business leaders.

The commemorative ceremony at Northwest Gateway & Memorial Plaza is today at 2:00 p.m.

(Photos courtesy of the City of Cedar Rapids.)