Mississippi-Like Waters Flowed Through Downtown Cedar Rapids
Thursday, June 19th, 2008Craig Harwood, an engineer at Rockwell-Collins, discusses the massive waters that flowed through downtown Cedar Rapids. (0:50)

Craig Harwood, an engineer at Rockwell-Collins, discusses the massive waters that flowed through downtown Cedar Rapids. (0:50)

Craig Harwood of Cedar Rapids discusses how the community came together to help each other during the floods. (2:26)
The floods of Eastern Iowa caused an estimated $1 billion of damage to crops, and another $350 million damage to personal property. Often unreported is the damage to the cultural institutions to Iowa. The bohemian neighborhood of Czech village was destroyed, many museums suffered significant damage, the library lost much of it’s stacks, and the legendary and historic Paramount Theatre was gutted. The Paramount, built in 1928, was home to the symphony orchestra, plays, and two historic Wurlitzer pianos. These pianos, as old as the building itself, were destroyed in the floods. (2:15)



Cedar Rapids, Iowa resident Craig Harwood discusses the lengthy clean-up efforts in the city and surrounding areas. (10:00)
Standing in devastated downtown Cedar Rapids, two local business owners discuss flood clean-up and recovery. (2:52)

Like everyone in Iowa, Cedar Rapids commedian “Bustin’ Dustin“ was seriously affected by the recent floods. Dan Patterson met Dustin while the commedian helped a friend clean-up in downtown Cedar Rapids. Dustin talked about the effectiveness of humor in recovering from tragedy. (1:31)
Dan Patterson reports from his hometown of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He says it is estimated a volume of water equal to the Mississippi River flowed through Cedar Rapids. The town is devastated, but the people are determined to rebuild. (2:05)
S. Dawn Jones reports on her observations of Cedar Rapids, Iowa City, and other small Iowa towns from the air. She says that the further south she got, the fatter the Mississippi River appeared, making towns like Toolesboro into islands. Areas where the water had receded were obvious because they appeared like swampland rather than green. She also saw houseboats stuck next to a bridge, another type of “lost” home that wouldn’t have been expected. (2:51)
Meredith MacKenzie speaks with Rep. Steve King (R-IA) about the recent flooding in Iowa and his view on energy legislation in the House of Representatives. (8:43)
Kathy Alter, web content editor for The Gazette Newspaper in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, tells her personal story of being evacuated from her home and the resulting problems with going back in to her home (she says there are 12,000 people displaced), dealing with FEMA, her disabled mother (she got stuck in the bathroom in the hotel because it was not handicap accessible), and issues with needing dialysis available only on the other side of the river (Kathy is an end stage renal disease patient). “The stuff that was there was just stuff,” she says, “the important thing is that we both came out of it and we both came out of it relatively healthy.” (8:04)