Many people get ready for possible spring flooding

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By Tom Saul | Tuesday, March 04, 2008 | No comments posted

As emergency officials from throughout the Upper Mississippi River region get ready to gather to talk about potential flooding this spring, Sunday’s snowmelt gave some homeowners in the Quad-Cities a taste of what to expect if area rivers and streams go outside their banks.

Basement waterproofing companies in the Quad-Cities say they have been swamped with calls from homeowners who saw snowmelt trickle into their homes over the weekend. Temperatures shot up past the 60-degree mark and caused much of the snow and ice on the ground to disappear.

“We’ve been getting 10 to 15 calls a day,” said Mike Menting, owner of Menting Masonry and Waterproofing in Moline, which does basement waterproofing. “My recommendation to people is to get valuables up off the basement floor. I’ve seen a lot of damage to heirlooms because of leaking.”

Federal, state and local flood control personnel will meet beginning Wednesday at the Rock Island Arsenal for a two-day workshop meeting that will look at the potential for flooding this spring and the roles and responsibilities of various agencies in flood fighting and recovery.

The first-ever workshop organized by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for the region is meant to give all those who work for agencies that handle flooding and its aftermath an opportunity to meet one another and learn what everyone’s roles, responsibilities and capabilities are, said Ron Fournier, a spokesman for the Army Corps.

In the past, individual agencies were left to develop their own plans and find out who could be of help for different purposes, Fournier said. That has led to confusion. The workshop is expected to provide better-coordinated flood mitigation efforts and to “fill in the gaps” for local and regional agencies.

“Now is the perfect time to check everything out and cross all the Ts and dot all the Is and see where everybody stands,” Fournier said. “For instance, in downtown Davenport, they may not know that they can come to the Army Corps for sandbags.”

Before the snow, ice and cold completely disappear, area governments are getting ready for potential flooding. In Davenport, the city has sought bids to buy sandbags for the first time since the 2001 flood, said Dee Bruemmer, public works director. It is reviewing and revising plans to protect the downtown and Modern Woodmen Park, formerly John O’Donnell Stadium.

Sunday’s snowmelt probably decreased the chances for flooding along regional creeks and streams, said Jeff Zogg, a hydrologist for the National Weather Service. The agency is in the process of recalculating flooding predictions for the Upper Mississippi based on weekend thaws and expects to have new figures Friday.

Last week, Zogg predicted there was a 76 percent chance that the river at Lock and Dam 15 in the Quad-Cities would reach flood stage of 15 feet. There is a higher chance of flooding downriver from the Quad-Cities. Along the Mississippi, snow pack was about normal for this time of year. However, to the north, it was deeper than normal along tributaries feeding the river.

“There is still a risk of flooding, but the warm weather melted a lot of the snow, and that was a good thing,” Zogg said. “That means there is less available to melt and run off.”

Workshop

Local, state and federal flood control personnel from Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin and Missouri will meet for a two-day flood mitigation workshop starting Wednesday morning at the Rock Island Arsenal. Representatives of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Federal Emergency Management Agency, National Weather Service and U.S. Coast Guard will be present. Topics of discussion will include the potential for Mississippi River flooding this spring, roles of various local, state and federal agencies in flood mitigation and recovery and responsibilities and capabilities of various agencies in fighting floods.

Tom Saul can be contacted at (563) 383-2453 or tsaul@qctimes.com. Comment on this story at qctimes.com.