Wednesday Morning, June 11, 2008

We began preparations for flood waters  early Wednesday morning. The Cedar River was predicted to crest on Friday morning at 22.1 feet. Although this was nearly 3 feet above the 1993 flood, the Plaza 425 seemed relatively safe. Still we  gathered together with staff and families from the Montessori School, family members and volunteers, who unfortunately we did not get the names of, to build a three foot sandbag retaining wall. We protected all lobby doors, the dock area, the HVAC room and the electrical room. We also put plastic and sandbags over the dock drain to keep water from flowing in.

KGAN was given permission to document the effect of the flood on the downtown area from the roof of the Plaza 425 building. They filmed off and on until Sunday afternoon.

The pictures below were taken after the walls were built. It was near dusk and they are of poor quality. But they can give you an idea of the precautions that were taken.