Disaster Response &

Recovery

A Tale of Two Rivers

The Crest

• Cedar rose violently and fell suddenly. The Iowa, below a reservoir, rose slowly over a week and fell as slowly. This difference resulted in greater destruction and flood contamination in Cedar Rapids while Iowa City experienced longer inaccesibilities.

Iowa River/Iowa City Cedar River/Cedar Rapids

Wednesday, June 4:Evacuation and sandbagging begins Friday, June 6: 1993 flood levels expected

Sunday, June 8: Surpasses flood stage of 22 feet

Monday, June 9: Johnson County officials say 500-year flood now expected

Tuesday, June 10:Coralville Lake goes over spillway in eveningPredicted crest at 30.5 feet Wednesday, June 11: Predicted crest at 30.9 feetCoralville Reservoir ups output to 33,000 Cubic Feet Per Second Thursday, June 12:Parkview Terrace neighborhood evacuated in middle of night Friday, June 13:UI abandons non-essential operations, including classes; evacuates flood-prone buildingsIowa River passes 28.52-foot record, predicted crest: 33 feet Saturday, June 14: Huge volunteer sandbag effort at UI, Iowa City, Coralville Saturday, June 21:Iowa River crests earlier than expected at 31.5 feet Tuesday, June 24:Water stops going over Coralville Lake spillway

Monday, July 7: Iowa River falls below flood stage in Johnson County

Monday, June 9:Predicted crest at 20 feet To be safe, collection caretakers assumed 3 feet higher Tuesday, June 10:Braces for flood, sandbagging, building dirt levees Wednesday, June 11:Predicted crest at 24.7 feet Cedar River crest forecast gauge failsMandatory evacuations begin in the early morning hours 2:00 PM announces fears of a 500-year-flood crest 1st Avenue, 3rd Avenue, & 8th Avenue Bridges Close in Cedar Rapids2:15 PM Mandatory Evacuation of all people in the 500-Year-flood-plainIncludes libraries and museums3:30 PM St. Luke's and Mercy prepare for flood related injuries Exit ramps in Cedar Rapids closed Cedar RapidsFEMA representative arrives in Cedar RapidsPolice block off neighborhoods and main roads in Cedar Rapids

Thursday, June 12: Heavy rains produce flash floods in Cedar RapidsPredicted crest now 32 feet 8,000 evacuatedVolunteers sandbag, and help save, CR’s last water wellNational Guard arrives in Cedar RapidsMercy Medical Center in CR evacuated overnightI-380 restricted one lane through Cedar Rapids

Friday, June 13: 10:15 AM crests at 31.1 feet almost 20 feet above flood stage 25,000 evacuated, including Mercy Medical Center

Sunday, June 15: River falls to 24.3 feet -- still higher than any previous flood

Saturday, June 21: River drops below 12-foot flood stage for first time since June 2

The EventFactors including heavy snow fall and spring rain assured high water on Iowa rivers. Projections included the possibility of another 100 year flooding as occurred in 1993. But predictions proved inaccurate and the Cedar and Iowa Rivers rose in an unprecedented 500 year flood.

Nine square miles -- 1,300 city blocks -- were evacuated in Cedar Rapids

Friday, June 13th • Move as many collections from Main Library

basement as possible• Evacuate 100 Main Library staff members

within a six-hour period• Move servers to central IT• Lock down the Main

Library building

EVACUATION OUT OF TIGHT SPOTS

DOUBLE ROWS OF VOLUNTEERS – EVACUATING BOOKS FROM TWO DIFFERENT AREAS

You can’t be everywhere – assign a volunteer as “in charge” check back once in a while

DOUBLE ROWS IN VARIOUS COMBINATIONS – TWO COMING FROM THE RIGHT COMBINING INTO ONE; ANOTHER COMING FROM THE LEFT

CHAINING ALL THE WAY TO SECOND FLOOR

DRIVING OUR VOLUNTEERS NUTS KEEPING OUR BOOKS ON TABLES AND IN ORDER!

NOTE THAT THE PRESERVATION LIBRARIAN (ME!) REMAINED COOL, CALM, AND SEXY THE ENTIRE TIME.

By 9:00 pm, we had moved:• 50,000 of a half million books in storage• Manuscripts – leaving 5 feet of clearance• Approximately 700 16mm films• 100 staff from Main, Music,

and Art libraries

WHEN SANDBAGGERS RAN OUT OF SAND, THEY CAME IN TO AIRCONDITIONING AND ASSISTED IN BOOK EVACUATION, UNTIL MORE SUPPLIES ARRIVED OUTSIDE

PROJECTED WATER LEVEL: IOWA AVENUE TO STREET - 6BURLINGTON 50.5

AFTER THE FLOODING

18

Response• Friday morning, 13 the Cedar River crested inundating downtown Cedar Rapids

and complete neighborhoods and submerged or destroyed all but one bridge.• Violent flood water surged over the weekend and then fell rapidly.• Sunday, June 14, met with Czech staff to plan for response.• Monday, June 15, African American & Czech staffs met with vendor.• Initial access to the Czech museum was permitted in the evening of Tuesday, June

17. The area was then declared unsafe without further access on June 18. On June 19 intense extraction, washing, freezing and evacuation of collections was accomplished.

• Initial access to the Iowa African/ American museum occurred on June 18 and collections extraction and freezing began.

• Collections extraction, freezing and evacuation continued June 20.• The Iowa River crested on the weekend 14/15 but receded slowly. The first

response in the Iowa City area occurred June 20 with extraction of Johnson County Historical Society archives, Coralville.

time line

ASSESSMENT

20

Czech Museum

library, flood water rose to the top of the shelves, eight

feet.

21

Czech Museum exhibits were completely destroyed

22

Soaked archives, African/American Museum

23

African American museumcostume

rack

24

African/American Museum exhibits

25

Johnson County Historical Society archives extraction from 3 1/2 feet of water

Work your politicians

TRIAGING

OPENING/UNBLOCKING DOORS TO BEGIN AIR CIRCULATION TO REDUCE MOLD OUTBREAKS

DRY MATERIAL TO NEW STORAGE AREA

DRY TEXTILES WENT TO NEW OFFSITE STORAGE; WET 20TH CENTURY MATERIALS PACKED INTO FREEZER TRUCK

KEEP ITEMS IN MUD UNTIL READY TO RINSE AND PACK FOR FREEZING

You have at least two times to make a “discard” selection. If you can’t see it, rinse it, save it, make a decision later.

CAN’T GET TOO MANY SINKS!

TENT PROVIDED NEEDED RELIEF FROM THE SUN

15 MINUTE ERRANDS TOOK UP TO 5 HOURS

ARTWORK/FLATWORK TAKEN OUT OF FRAMES AND TAKEN TO THE STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF IOWA CONSERVATION LAB IN IOWA CITY

BOXES OF LPs SET ASIDE TO SEND TO THE UNIVERSITY OF IOWA

ITEMS THAT COULDN’T BE FROZEN WERE CLEANED AS BEST WE COULD, PACKED OUT TO THE UI TO BE DEALT WITH LATER

TEXTILES LEFT IN MUD UNTIL TEXTILE CONSERVATORS ARRIVED

PROCESSING OF TEXTILES

WOODEN OBJECTS SET ASIDE FOR WOOD CONSERVATOR

Think before you discard. This piano will probably never play again but it is important to the community. It is now a flood artifact and tells two stories -- the original story and flood story.

ONCE A ROOM/AREA CLEARED OUT OF COLLECTIONS, DEMOLITION OF DRY WALL AND ENHANCED DRYING BEGAN

Although the nonprofits were able to enter their buildings fairly quickly, the City of Cedar Rapids would not let staff or volunteer conservators into city buildings.

Being Visible and Staying Open for Business Critical

Offices set up and storage secured before floods receded

Available to the public within days after the floods – store fronts in the Malls

Gave interviews, held fundraisers, continued programming, wherever, whenever

IN A QUIXOTIC MOMENT WE BECAME A VENDOR

A STEEP LEARNING CURVE FOLLOWED

The University Libraries

Art LibraryBiological Sciences LibraryMarvin A. Pomerantz Business LibraryLichtenberger Engineering LibraryGeoscience LibraryHardin Library for the Health Sciences Main LibraryMathematical Sciences Library Rita Benton Music LibraryPhysics LibraryPsychology Library

Realize you are in a disaster situation

Do the Best you can and ---

Let it Go!

PROTECT YOURSELF • Wear a N95 disposable respirator • Use disposable gloves if handling

the material• Goggles or protective eyewear

should be worn• Don’t touch your eyes or mouth if

you’ve touched a moldy item• Wash your hands as soon as possible

once vacated infected area• Take a shower and wash your

clothes in hot water and bleach• Illnesses due to exposure to mold can result from both

high level, short-term exposures and lower level, long-term exposures.

Observations• Up-to-date disaster plan –

knowledgeable people to call• Know how to reach key people• Anticipate unexpected and

that will change regularly• Communicate• This will be a full time job for longer than

anticipated• Recovery takes years – less tolerance for

uncertainty and inconvenience over time

• It’s not business as usual – it’s business as unusual PLUS

• You and your staff were in a disaster; stress will show

• Refrain from finger pointing• Being prepared and using good preservation

practices pays off• Think outside the box

Working with vendors• Meet with vendor and game plan before

heading out to deal with disaster• Communicate at regular intervals• Once dust settles, find out what the recovery

costs are – storage, assessment, repairs• Monitor, check in, question• Difficult to be “in control” in a bureaucracy,

multi-building incident

African American Museum of IowaGrand Re-OpeningJanuary 16, 2009

After the flood, June 18, 2008

Resources:

•From Disaster to Hope: Flood 2008 by Informatics Inc, Cedar Rapids, Iowa at http://informaticsinc.com/ under “Video Showcase”

•University of Iowa Flood Video at http://www.uiowa.edu/floodrecovery/

•Heritage Preservation http://www.heritagepreservation.org/Select Heritage Emergency National Task Force

•Pocket Response Plan (this can be your first baby step toward a plan)•dPlan, an online disaster planning template•Field Guide Emergency Response booklet & DVD•Emergency Response and Salvage Wheel•24 hour hotline 202-661-8068

Ebaugh, Alicia. "Salvaging Collections is Like a Hidden Treasure Hunt." The Gazette (Cedar Rapids), August 4, 2008. http://www.gazetteonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080804/NEWS/413671225/0/rss04

Includes 4 videos:• How to salvage flood-damaged photos• How to salvage flood-damaged LP’s, CD’s and DVD’s• How to repair flood damaged books• How to salvage flood damaged documents

Nancy E Kraft, HeadPreservation DeptAnd Preservation Librariannancy-e-kraft@uiowa.edu

319/335-5286 or 319-335-5387

http://hosted.lib.uiowa.edu/flood/ http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/preservation/index.html

Preservation Beathttp://blog.lib.uiowa.edu/preservation/