Iowa City & Hills Flood Photos

My husband Jim and I have been touring Iowa City, Coralville, North Liberty, and Hills on our training rides. Along the way, we've seen some startling flooding. You read about the flooding in the newspaper, you see the photos and video in newspapers and on TV, but when you see it for yourself, maybe after another storm or two, the visuals are flashbacks to 1993 and 2008.

Trees and smaller debris in a big pile are banging against the bridge over the river near Hills. Fish are jumping in flooded fields nearby. As often as I've seen those fields flooded, I'm beginning to wonder if that area shouldn't be a big flood buffer like what you see near the Skunk River on I-80. Huge rolls of hay were lost in one of those flooded fields.

Lower City Park in Iowa City is flooded and closed. The Iowa River has taken possession of the trees, the road, the trails, and forced us to ride up the hill instead of riding through City Park as we're accustomed to doing.

What a stark contrast to the brown grass and withering temperatures of the summer of 1989, when I was pregnant with our 25-year-old daughter Sarah, and took five-year-old Jesse on a "fun" bike ride that turned into a March to Bataan -- if not for me, then certainly for him and the baby I was carrying.

What a dope I was. After riding up Dubuque Street Hill, Jesse fell off his little banana bike from heat and exhaustion. I carried him into the nearest bar, which was near indeed. Jesse fell right in front of it. The bar was icy cold, and the bartender gave Jesse a free 7-Up. Within minutes he was chatting animatedly on the barstool and I called a cab to take us home.

I had no idea that it was 105 degrees on that summer day in 1989. For the next two days in July 2014, temperatures will be more like early October weather. What a difference 25 years makes.

I almost lost my baby through my stupidity that night, but she's alive and well, thank God.