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Flood of 2008

‘Worst natural disaster in state history’

By Judy Baldwin
Iowa.com

May's Island in Cedar Rapids flooded by the Cedar River on Thursday, June 12, 2008
May’s Island in Cedar Rapids flooded by the Cedar River on Thursday, June 12, 2008

Iowans believed the 1993 flood, which caused $2 billion in damage, was the worst flood the state would ever see. But the June 2008 floods caused five times the damage. Gov. Chet Culver called the 2008 floods “the worst natural disaster in the state’s history,” when he declared 85 of Iowa’s 99 counties disaster areas.

In August 2008, the governor estimated that damage to the state was as high as $10 billion; nearly a third of the damage was to agricultural buildings, acreage, stored grain and equipment — between $2.3 and $3 billion. During the flood, 16 percent of the state’s 25 million tillable acres were under water.

Whole towns were covered in water, including Palo, northwest of Cedar Rapids, and Oakville, in southeast Iowa. 125 miles of the state’s roads were washed out.

The floods displaced 40,000 Iowans, 24,000 of them in Cedar Rapids, where the Cedar River flooded 9.2 square miles, covered 1,300 city blocks and damaged 832 businesses and 3,984 residences. The University of Iowa, Iowa City, sustained more than $231 million in damage from the flooded Iowa River.

As a testament to Iowa’s strength and perseverance, more than 50,000 Iowans volunteered to help their neighbors sandbag, clean-up or rebuild. Recovery is ongoing.

Learn more:

EASTERN IOWA

NORTHERN IOWA

STATEWIDE

 

 

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