By Zach Mortice
The 2008 flooding in eastern Iowa saw the Cedar River crest at 31 feet, inundating much of downtown Cedar Rapids. Image courtesy of Sasaki.
On the morning of Jun 12, 2008, the landscape architects Gina Ford, ASLA, and Jason Hellendrung, ASLA, of Sasaki Associates woke up in their hotel rooms by the riverside in downtown Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to stifling heat and eerie silence. They were in town to pitch their riverfront master plan to the city council. They knew the Cedar River was expected to flood (and had stocked up on water, granola bars, and bananas just in case) but neither expected any sort of ordeal stemming from the river, which they had come hoping to reimagine as a lively and gregarious urban greenway. The power, air-conditioning, and phones were out. The hallways were empty and pitch black, and a ferocious rainstorm had darkened the skies and pushed the encroaching floodwaters. Reaching each other via cell phone, they discussed their options. In the distance, the Quaker Oats cereal mill plant?s red neon sign was still lit. ?It can?t be that bad,? said Hellendrung. ?They still have electricity.? ?As I said that, there was a bolt of thunder and lightning, and the sign went out. Then I was like, ?Maybe the police will get here soon"??
Police did dispatch rescuers, who led Ford and Hellendrung out of the hotel. A second-floor connection to the convention center saved them from having to make a wet exit from the city.
?It was something that we liv...