Emergency.Blog

Cedar Rapids hospital evacuates; river expected to crest higher now

updated 1 hour ago (10:40 CDT)

Iowa river still rising -- at 2 inches an hour

Cedar Rapids hospital evacuates; river expected to crest higher now

Jeff Roberson / AP

CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA: Officials evacuated patients from a Cedar Rapids hospital on Friday as the rising waters from the Cedar River confounded the city's best efforts to secure the downtown area. Much of the Midwest remained under threat of more severe weather, with yet another storm front moving through Kansas, Missouri and Wisconsin.

In Cedar Falls, officials early Friday had hoped the Cedar River would crest Friday at about 31.8 feet, but NBC's Kevin Tibbles later reported from the city that officials now fear it won't crest until the weekend, with a predicted crest of 33 feet.

The water has been rising about two inches an hour, Tibbles added.

The river was at 30.9 feet early Friday. In a 1993 flood, considered the worst in recent history, it crested at 19.27 feet.

"We are seeing a historic hydrological event taking place with unprecedented river levels occurring," said Brian Pierce, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Davenport. "We're in uncharted territory -- this is an event beyond what anybody could even imagine..."

-- Source/continues at: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25020185/

Additional Reference/FEMA: http://www.fema.gov/hazard/flood/info.shtm

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