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From 6/16/08
For those of you who've been paying attention to the news, you know that all is not going well here. The Floods of 2008 have hit Cedar Rapids very hard, and directly impacted our family, and many people we know. Basically, if you live in the vicinity and weren't personally affected, chances are you know someone who was. I'll try to give you a run-down of the situation, and how we've been impacted.

First: My family’s home is safe, as, mostly, are those of the people closest to me (my in-laws had some flash-flooding damage). My parents stayed with me for a few days for work-proximity issues (more on that later) and weren't hit in their northeastern suburb of Marion, but their presence was steadying and welcomed. My sister is in Iowa City, but not too close to a flood zone. So, from a health and personal security standpoint, we’re okay. But, needless to say, we’re more blessed on that front than others.

My workplace is basically gone. We are guessing we had about 4-7 feet of water in our office building, assuming the worst (that water got in past the sandbagging). We won’t be allowed in the building to see the full extent of the damage for at least two weeks, and we’re talking a month before the power comes back on to the downtown area. We were about 2 years into a 7-year lease, and while we’ve been assured that the building’s owner will be gutting and redoing the place to our specs, that might not be completed until the fall at the earliest (and next year at worst). We’re temporarily relocating about 19 blocks up the street at one of our in-town clients with an extra amount of office space in their owned building, so we’ll be back in business, thankfully, in about a week, assuming we can get enough computers ordered, servers hooked up, and off-site backups re-entered. Having only 17 total employees actually affords us the luxury of getting set up again rather quickly. Our clients shouldn’t see a disruption, and my job and our company should be safe.

Tricia's law offices were on the 4th through 7th floors of a building about 2 blocks further away from the river than my firm. She has a trial coming up, though she's hoping she’ll be granted a continuance given the circumstances. She has some other work to do in the mean time to keep her busy, and it looks like the partners in her firm (30+ attorneys, plus staffers) are planning a strategic meeting as to setting up a virtual workplace until their situation is resolved. So, for her, too, we think things will be fine.

I consider us pretty fortunate that our “big hurdle” will be possibly finding a new child care option for Killian, now 10 months old. Our current facility was also involved in the flooding (another 5 blocks further than my wife), and we don’t know whether they have room at a satellite facility, or will be reopening when, if at all. Tricia’s mother’s company was flooded, but only a couple floors of a multi-level building. She's currently in limbo, waiting to see what their next move is.

Bigger issues: We’re in a voluntary water-use conservation effort, and we're running as a city at 50% capacity. We have one major thoroughfare (US interstate 380, N-S) left that can connect the north and south sides of the city, but if that were to be closed, we could see things get crazy. We’re already looking at potential supply chain complications because 380 south of the city is closed, and that route connects the city to Interstate 80, E-W, not to mention impacting the number of people who live in CR and work in Iowa City to the south, and vice versa.

I’ll spare you the “we’ll bounce back” talk, not because I don’t believe we will, but I just think the reality mandates an unfettered clarity and focus. Yes we’ve seen heroism, volunteerism, and selflessness, so, too, stubbornness, incredulity, baseness and naivete. The downtown area— already suffering a steep decline in “after-hours” life— was just witnessing a rebound, with many new restaurants and bars. It will never be the same, now that these are all gone. Many businesses had already fled the district, and others were hanging around downtown because of inertia. The novelty of city hall on an island has gone from curious and quaint to, now, quite ridiculous. The city’s aspect of having seven main roads for getting from one side of the city to the other— a few of which flood almost annually anyway— has been exposed as ludicrous. I absolutely love Cedar Rapids, but its flaws, once easy to dismiss, now make me angry, and hopefully this from-scratch rebuilding of a large section of the city might make people rethink some things.

That said, I have a lot to be thankful for: I have a home, with power no less, and a job. I will likely lose my diplomas and some irreplaceable work product, but that’s nothing compared to what all these hundreds of families have experienced. I appreciate the kind words of support and prayers from outside observers, but there are many people who need them more. In fact, in nearly Palo, about fifteen minutes northwest, the ENTIRE TOWN has been wiped out. Unbelievable. My wife and I will be contributing to the Red Cross, and, if any of you wish to do the same, I can tell you it would be greatly appreciated by the many people who’ve benefited from their generosity in this time of crisis.

Here's some pictures of my office building for you to see some of the damage we had, and

here's an outdated news-link, but it does have pictures of the worst stuff...

A bright spot is the continued growth and development of our Little Man, a blessing whose presence makes the horror around us bearable. Enjoy these pictures, as a bright side.

Love, Brad, Tricia and Killian

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