BY THE NUMBERS 7,749 properties were flooded, including: Cedar Rapids Flood Damage • 5,900 residential (56 percent of these were owner-occupied and 34 percent were rental units) • 1,049 commercial units • 84 industrial units • 51 agricultural units • 41 units of other types 6,580 properties were assessed for damages as of July 21, 2008. Of these: • 47 were destroyed • 457 had major damage • 4,340 had minor damage • 1,636 were damaged but habitable 1,356 properties were bought out, including 1,259 funded entirely by CDBG grant money. May's Island, FEMA Photo 700 businesses were affected by the flood. $384,514,096 in CDBG-Disaster Recovery funding was administered by IEDA to help 700 National Guard personnel secured the Cedar Rapids recover. (For a graph illustrating perimeter and brought their own vehicles, how the funds were spent, see “Where the trailers, and supplies. Money Went” in the resources area of the Cedar Rapids page). 310 city facilities were affected, costing an estimated $500 million to repair and rebuild, 10+ square miles of Cedar Rapids were flooded including: — 14 percent of the city’s land area. That • Veterans Memorial Building (then home to amounts to 1,126 city blocks, half of which City Hall) were severely damaged. Districts affected • Central Fire Station included Downtown, Czech Village, New • Police Station Bohemia, Oakhill Jackson, Rompot/Cedar • Animal Control building Valley, the Taylor School neighborhood, and • Public Works building Time Check. • Ground Transportation Center, the city’s transportation hub (Cedar Rapids Transit was back in modified operation one week 4 football stadiums worth of flood debris was after the flood) removed from Cedar Rapids neighborhoods by • Main public library the end of 2008 at a cost of $9 million. • 6 Cedar Rapids Community School District facilities, including its central office and Taylor Elementary School - $25 million in lived in the flooded area 18,623 people total estimated damages • 10,000 were displaced, including 1,800+ • 3 of 4 city collector wells and 46 vertical elementary students and 180 school staff wells • 1,547 preschool children lost daycare • Water Pollution Control providers • 4 large public parking garages • 1,360 people lost jobs • Ellis Public Pool • 423 people were rescued by Cedar Rapids • Time Check Recreational Facility firefighters in boats • Jones Golf Course Clubhouse 176 tax-exempt properties belonging to government, schools, churches, and organizations such as the Red Cross and Salvation Army were affected. 138 public utility and railroad properties were damaged. They included: • A bridge owned by CRANDIC, the Cedar Rapids and Iowa City Railroad. It collapsed into the river in spite of being ballasted National Czech and Slovak Museum and Library Photo with a string of railcars filled with gravel. • The Cedar Rapids Wastewater Pollution 8 iconic cultural assets were affected, Control Facility sewage treatment plant including: was completely disabled. It was functional • African American Historical Museum & in 12 days and completely in compliance in Cultural Center less than three months. • Cedar Rapids Museum of Art • Two Cedar Rapids electricity generating • National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library systems were knocked out of service. • Legion Arts Downtown and other neighborhoods had • Mother Mosque of America no electricity during and after the flood. • Paramount Theatre Much of the recovery was powered by • Science Station diesel generators until power began to be • Theatre Cedar Rapids restored in late June. • Cedar Rapids Public Library • Louis Sullivan People’s National Bank Building 34 outside law enforcement agencies volunteered 12,500 hours of service in Cedar Rapids between June 14 and June 23, 2008, Many individual National Register properties according to the book Un-Natural Disaster by and hundreds or more National Register Terry Swails and Carolyn Wettstone. Agency Historic District contributing properties were representatives came from elsewhere in Iowa affected. and from: • Minnesota and Nebraska At least a decade was spent on the recovery • United States Coast Guard effort, some aspects of which were still in the • Iowa Navy Reserve process of being completed in the spring of • Army National Guard 2018. Ultimately, and despite irreplaceable • Iowa National Guard losses, many Cedar Rapidians believe the city • Iowa Air National Guard was better off after the long effort than it had been before the flood. 27 large companies with a total of 6,167 employees were affected, including: Sources: FEMA, State of Iowa, City of Cedar • 18 companies with 4,137 employees that Rapids were directly affected • 9 companies with 2,030 employees that were indirectly affected • 25 of the 27 large companies affected committed to rebuilding in Cedar Rapids at an estimated cost of more than $250 million .