Wednesday Evening

By 6:30pm, the water was coming up through the dock drain enough  that we decided to go get a couple of sump pumps.  The water coming up from the street storm drains was about two feet deep in the back of the building and it was raining again.  However, once the pumps were in place and another layer of sandbags was added the the barrier at the dock, we felt confident that we could keep up with any water that may come in, and we settled in for the night.

 Sometime around 11:00 or 11:30 pm, Alliant Energy shut power down to the building. Brian powered up the generator. Three of the four elevator cars were moved up above the Lobby level so that they would stay dry. The fourth elevator would not run on the generator power. Brett, Brian's son, drove a small gas generator in from Quasqueton to keep the pumps on the dock running. The water was coming up from the river side now. It was up to the curb in the front of the building on Second Street. About 1:15 am, Brian laid down for a couple of hours of rest.