Flooding: Rising water is big problem for some residents

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By Kay Luna | Tuesday, March 04, 2008 | 2 comment(s)

Joe Meseck stands Monday in front of a flooded yard at his house on South Shore Drive in Moline along the Rock River. Buy this Photo!

If he hadn’t been wearing tall rubber boots, Joe Meseck’s legs would have been soaked — just from walking down his driveway.

Floodwaters from the Rock River covered his yard Monday along South Shore Drive in Moline, where a small current was rippling between his garage and the road in the bitter cold.

And he expects the flooding there to get worse before it gets better.

“Pretty soon, we won’t be able to walk across here,” he said, as his wife, Sheri, and their dog, Rocky, watched from the garage. “That’s what the old truck is for.”

Blame it on the weird weather: Arctic cold, lots of snow, rain and ice, and then a big, rapid thaw, said Doug House, general manager of the City of Moline municipal services department.

All along South Shore Drive and North Shore Drive — which was partially closed Monday — on the banks of the Rock River in Moline, floodwaters are wreaking havoc on yards and park areas. Part of 60th Street in Moline also was closed because of the rising water.

That followed the closure of a portion of Interstate 280 on Sunday, when ice jams forced water onto the highway.

Duck Creek also rose out of its banks Sunday in Bettendorf, flooding the bike trail. But the water was back where it belonged Monday, said Wally Mook of the city’s public works department.

“We don’t have any flooding issues now,” he added.

There were no major flooding problems in Davenport, Rock Island or Milan, Ill., on Monday, either.

But those flooded properties along the Rock River in Moline were a different story. House characterized the flooding overall as minor — but he added that it definitely seems major to those with water in their house or a yard covered with water.

“Those areas have experienced localized flooding over the last six weeks, off and on,” he said. “The river has gone up and down with ice jams. Because of the flooding, with subzero temps, as soon as the water came up, it froze. It’s made travel through there pretty hazardous at times.”

This winter has been “anything but common,” House said, adding that he worries about further flooding this spring. He is revisiting the city’s flood plans from 2001, the last time the area experienced severe flooding.

The Quad-Cities has every reason to worry about flooding — both now and later this spring, said Jeff Zogg, a hydrologist with the National Weather Service.

By Monday afternoon, the Rock had risen about two feet within 24 hours, “which is significant for the Rock River,” he said. The weather service expects the river to crest at about 14½ to 15 feet on Wednesday, when it will begin a slow fall.

The river is not expected to fall below flood stage, which is 12 feet, until next week, he added.

The weather service also issued a flash flood watch, which will remain in effect for the lower Rock River through this evening, because of the high risk of ice jams.

“There’s the potential for locally rapid rises on the Rock that could be higher than what we’re forecasting,” Zogg said.

The next big concern is the Wapsipinicon River at DeWitt, Iowa, which was at 10.9 feet Monday. Flood stage there is 11 feet. The river rose about 3½ feet over 24 hours, he said. The Wapsi is expected to crest in DeWitt today and begin a slow fall as well.

The Mississippi River is not a flood risk right now.

Meanwhile, the weather service plans to issue an update to its spring flood outlook on Friday.

“We’ve been concerned about the elevated risk of flooding because of the snowpack,” Zogg said. “The heavy rain and snowmelt on Sunday was actually a good thing in the long term because we’re getting some of this water out of here.”

Kay Luna can be contacted at (563) 383-2323 or kluna@qctimes.com. Comment on this story at qctimes.com.