Rock River residents take relaxed approach to flood predictions
- Font Size:
- Default font size
- Larger font size
By Dustin Lemmon | Monday, January 07, 2008 |
Mica Ricketts, front, and her mother, Beverly, enjoy record-setting weather in Bettendorf on Sunday. The temperature was 60 on a nearby bank sign, but the official Quad-City high was 63, shattering the previous record of 53 set in 1933. (Jeff Cook/QUAD-CITY TIMES) (Edit) Buy this Photo
Flooding is a part of life for residents living on the Rock River, and Sunday, rather than dread this week’s forecast, most were enjoying record warm weather and paying the rising river little mind.
The National Weather Service of the Quad-Cities expects the river to rise a foot and a half above the 12-foot flood stage in Joslin, Ill., by Thursday morning, but it could go higher with up to 1 inch of rain expected to fall by Tuesday evening.
“This is based mostly on snow melt and a little rain fall,” NWS Meteorologist Dan Ferry said of the forecast Sunday. “It does not account for the rain we’re going to get.”
The river was at 12.3 feet Sunday evening in Joslin, above the 12-foot flood stage, and at 9.7 feet in Moline, which also has a flood stage of 12 feet, NWS Meteorologist Mike McClure said.
If the river does crest on Thursday, it’s expected to stay at that level for a day or more, McClure added, but the approaching rain could delay the crest and add up to a foot of flooding. He said ice jams and heavy rain fall might also increase flooding.
Record highs Sunday helped accelerate the snow melt. In Moline, the temperature reached 63 degrees, easily topping the 53 degree record set in 1933.
“We shattered the record, actually,” McClure said.
Ferry and local law enforcement agencies received no reports of flooding Sunday. Ice could be seen breaking up near the Interstate 74 bridge over the Rock River on Sunday afternoon, but the river was well within its banks.
At 13 feet, the river will flood some campgrounds and cause flooding for summer homes and cottages along the river, Ferry said.
Residents along North and South Shore drives in Moline weren’t making any special efforts to guard against flooding Sunday. Those outside were walking their pets or working in their garage. Large chunks of ice could be seen resting on the shore, but no water had climbed into their yards.
“It is what it is,” North Shore Drive resident Rod Jensen said of flood predictions. “You can anticipate this most every spring, not so much in January.”
Having the ice break up and flow down river this early in the year could mean less flooding this spring, Jensen said.
“There is pros and cons always, and if you live on the river, it’s just something you accept,” he said.
Jensen, who was working in his garage, said flooding is usually worse on the south shore.
“It would take a pretty significant event for us to have problems here,” he noted.
Residents on South Shore Drive did not appear that concerned Sunday either. Pam Elliott, who was walking her dog, said she hasn’t lived on South Shore Drive that long and has not experienced a heavy flood. Still, she wasn’t that worried.
“We just watch the flood gauge,” she said, noting in August the river came up into their yard. “We know we’re a long way off right now.”
Dustin Lemmon can be contacted at (563) 383-2493 or dlemmon@qctimes.com. Comment on this story at qctimes.com.
del.icio.us
Digg
NewsVine
Fark
reddit» More Local Stories
Highest Rated Articles from the last 7 Days
- Technology News Articles
- Computers, MP3, Phones & More. See Product Pics, Specs & Reviews.
- www.NexTag.com
- 2008 Diet Of The Year:
- Finally, A Diet That Really Works! Seen On CNN, NBC, CBS & Fox News.
- www.Wu-YiSource.com
- Cheap Airfare
- Compare multiple travel sites. Discount web fares made easy.
- www.LowFares.com
- Ads by Yahoo!
