The city pulled together to ensure uninterrupted service delivery to its residents throughout the incident, and an immediate recovery program was established. Local first responders had trained for decades because a small nuclear power plant, the Duane Arnold Energy Center, was only nine miles away. Consequently the public safety response resulted in no deaths or serious injuries. Thousands of residents and their pets were either rescued or evacuated.
Fifth-Worst Natural Disaster
Cedar Rapids is located in east-central Iowa and is home to 122,000. The Cedar River bisects the city, and in early June 2008 flooding consumed 10 square miles -- 14 percent of the city. Water filled the first floor of high-rise downtown office buildings and historic brick storefronts.More than 5,000 of the city's approximately 40,000 residential structures succumbed to the sewage- and debris-filled floodwater. Approximately 1,300 of those structures are beyond repair, and property owners are seeking demolition and buyout of their damaged properties. Evacuations over the course of two days displaced more than 18,000 residents and 9,000 employees. While these bare numbers may describe the magnitude of this disaster, they fail to illustrate the event's impact on the community's residents and businesses.
This flood's impact on public facilities is the fifth-worst national disaster in U.S. history, as determined by the value of Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) public assistance funding. In all, 310 municipal facilities were damaged. Many significant operations in Cedar Rapids' Linn County -- including the district court, full-service jail, Sheriff's Office and county administrative buildings -- were evacuated and extensively damaged. Cedar Rapids Community Schools -- one of the state's largest school districts -- lost its administrative building, and maintenance and warehouse operations.
City Hall is literally located on a small island in the middle of the Cedar River and was evacuated two days before the river crested. Both the Central Fire Station and the Police Department were evacuated. The fire station was a total loss; it flooded to the ceiling. Damage to the police station -- a 10-year-old, state-of-the-art facility -- included flooding of the basement evidence room, locker rooms, electrical system and generator. The public works and code enforcement building, located more than half a mile from the river, filled with several feet of water. Ironically because the public works building was relatively far from the river, thousands of volunteers worked around the clock there filling sandbags for days before the flood. The main public library, a neighborhood recreation center and several park buildings also went underwater.
All communication methods were lost, including computer networks, telephone systems, and the 911 dispatch and radio system. The wastewater treatment facility was flooded and lost power, and nearly all well water sources for water treatment were incapacitated -- causing water production to drop to 25 percent of the amount necessary to supply uninterrupted residential and industrial service. The city was on the brink of entirely losing its potable water system.
Despite the devastation of various municipal facilities, all city services continued
uninterrupted, and a fully functional City Hall was opened in an outlying office park within two days of the flood's crest.
Communicating with residents became the chief priority as the city moved from response to recovery mode. The first task (i.e., identifying the community services available to meet immediate and basic needs) began with the notice to residents that evacuation was likely. Within 24 hours of the river's crest, the city started preliminary assessments of property damage.
A Community in Recovery
Four days after the flood's crest, the Cedar Rapids City Council -- a nine-member, part-time council -- established the following goals for recovery:- Improve flood protection to better protect homes and businesses.
- Rebuild high-quality and affordable work force neighborhoods.
- Fully restore business vitality.
- Preserve arts and cultural assets.
- Maintain historic heritage.
- Retain and attract the next-generation work force.
International City/County Management Association-credentialed Jim Prosser, hired as the city's first manager in summer 2006, sought to assemble a partnership of community stakeholders who would be critical to successful recovery. He formed the Recovery and Reinvestment Coordinating Team (RRCT) within a week of the river's crest. The RRCT met daily for two hours during the first months after the disaster and now meets weekly. In addition to city officials, there are actively participating decision-makers from county government, the school district, the Chamber of Commerce, small business, nonprofits and many others. As new issues emerge, the list of participants grows.
When the plight of landlords and their neighborhood properties came to light, representatives brought those interests to the table for consideration. Landlords fit in neither a residential housing category nor qualify as a small business for most disaster recovery funding, yet neglect of their damaged properties can adversely impact the recovery of flooded neighborhoods. With this coordinated effort and the tenacious efforts of landlords, the state released funding this spring to provide rental rehabilitation assistance.
The RRCT's mission is to identify problems and issues, collaborate to reach solutions and provide a coordinated response. Having the variety of resources and interests working as a team -- and building these relationships while quickly solving problems at the same table -- accelerated the community's response and recovery. This group also provides a unified community forum for interactions with state leadership and local congressional delegation staff.
Plans for Recovery
Flood Management: Improving the city's flood protection was paramount to recovery.It was critical to put a strategy in place that would allow residents to plan for their future, knowing whether the home they rebuild would be protected from future flooding. Cedar Rapids began a community engagement process that resulted in adopting a flood-management strategy in 120 days, compared to the typical two to four years required by other cities. After several hours of open houses attended by thousands of city residents, the City Council adopted an estimated $1 billion flood-management strategy in November 2008 -- five months after the flood.
The Army Corps of Engineers now must complete its feasibility study of the proposed system's flood levees and flood walls -- which typically takes two years.
Neighborhood Planning: With the flood-management strategy in place, the city moved ahead in January 2009 by following the same disciplined process of engaging residents in neighborhood planning. The process resulted in writing three "area plans" that encompass 10 neighborhoods, redesigning vibrant neighborhoods to attract future generations, and redefining transportation and infrastructure with an emphasis on sustainability and connectivity.
Public Facilities: The recovery of public facilities is under way. With the help of FEMA funding, many of the hundreds of damaged public buildings can be rebuilt where they stand. Determining the fate of other buildings creates an opportunity to evaluate how services are delivered to citizens and how facilities drive those services.
The city began a public participation process to receive feedback on how facilities should be rebuilt. The City Council asked that a master plan be developed for damaged facilities that not only considers the costs -- including life-cycle costs -- of rebuilding facilities exactly as they were before the flood, but also evaluates rebuilding those facilities with functional or sustainable upgrades. The process is designed to also evaluate whether possibilities exist to co-locate public functions to make them more efficient, effective and responsive to citizens. That effort is in process.
