Iowa City Swamped: 1993 Redux?

Remember the floods of 1993? I had just bought a house in the country north of Fairfield, and that spring after what seemed like 40 days and 40 nights of rain, I watched water cascading down the basement walls, a beautiful trickling waterfall. Lucky for me, the basement never flooded—whatever drainage system had been installed in 80 years ago still worked perfectly.

Now Iowa City gears up for flooding again as the Army Corps of Engineers release rising waters from Coralville lake down the Iowa River. Rob Cline, our book reviewer who daylights as Marketing Director for Hancher Auditorium, has spent days packing up his office, as he and colleagues all along the west bank of the river get ready to move to higher ground.  

Even the folks at Riverside Theatre (above) have been swamped. For opening weekend of The Comedy of Errors June 13-15, the Shakespeare Festival has abandoned its flooded City Park site for Opstad Auditorium at Iowa City High School.

More from The Daily Iowan on the Iowa City flooding.