Could be. The last great flood was in 1993. And then in the 7th year, we won titles, and it was good!
Sandbagging at Hilton
- Thread starter Cyclonepride
- Start date
Could be. The last great flood was in 1993. And then in the 7th year, we won titles, and it was good!
Imposing our will upon our natural surroundings is not the way to go. I don't think a dam is as good of a long-term solution as increasing wetlands and decreasing the amount of pavment / non-pourous surfaces.
We need to rethink development with nature in mind: green roofs which retain and store moisture (and decrease heating /cooling costs), pourous pavement which allows water to seap-in (like it used to) and enter the groundwater supply, and, for the love of God, smaller parking lots. Problem is, we're set in our ways and there's too many comfortable people and those who don't know there is a better way.
Dams fail too and when they do it is 50 times worse then stuff like this. Delhi, IA dam anyone? Imagine the benefits a widened buffer zone would have for wildlife!
Fact is, much of Ames is simply on a flood plain. This kind of stuff is going to happen.
And what happens in winter to the 'green roofs' which retain moisture and the pavement with seeped-in water. Because when I was took chemistry, when water freezes, it expands. So just how would these 'green' solutions work then?
We need to think about every aspect of a possible solution before we just throw them out there.
Green is good, but a solution for one part of the country won't work for every part.
Last edited:
I was there for the first Hilton flood in 1976. Not a fun experience. We were not aware of the "floodgates" (plank and 4 X 4 posts stored at Hilton) until too late.......but we were lucky that time. The water did not come in the ramp on the east end......water only got into the building once the storm sewers, and then later the sanitary sewers backed up into the building. There was about 4 inches of "stuff" on the floor. Took about a month to air the place out.
The biggest problem in that flood was Scheman which was still under construction. A couple of days before the flood, all of the electrical in Scheman had been completed and was going to be tested. When the flood came, the electrical vault in Scheman ended up several feet under water. Eventually, all of the equipment there had to be taken apart, dried out (some of it outside in the sun) and then re-assembled.
The Iowa State Center was built on a flood plain....as is JTS and everything in that area. It was only supposed to flood once every 50 years....at least that is what we were told back then. This is what....the third major flood now?
The biggest problem in that flood was Scheman which was still under construction. A couple of days before the flood, all of the electrical in Scheman had been completed and was going to be tested. When the flood came, the electrical vault in Scheman ended up several feet under water. Eventually, all of the equipment there had to be taken apart, dried out (some of it outside in the sun) and then re-assembled.
The Iowa State Center was built on a flood plain....as is JTS and everything in that area. It was only supposed to flood once every 50 years....at least that is what we were told back then. This is what....the third major flood now?
True. But I'm talking about pourous pavement (where the water seeps-in and enters the groundwater table instead of being flushed instantly into a sewer or drainage ditch, which means the water slowly enters the water supply rather than quickly being flushed into a quickly rising river) AND durable green roofs. These are two separate things.
Here's a good resource for green roofs:
Greenroofs.com: The Resource Portal for Green Roofs
Green roofs have many layers of substrate. They are usually set-up with drainage systems in mind, but it often takes hours or days for the water to run out rather than instantly. I don't have time to explain about green roofs, just look up some information on your own if you're interested or head to the local bookstore and flip through some books about them. It's amazing what countries like Denmark and Germany have been doing for years, and we're very far behind.
Yeah - really sucks nobody ever thought about "winter" in green rooftop initiatives.....
City of Chicago :: Chicago's City Hall Rooftop Garden
Thank goodness it's tropic conditions there....
this is the deal. every piece of land that a farmer could tile probably has. nothing left to slow this water down - - it just runs off to the streams into the rivers and they can't handle the rapid pace of the water. also crp and lots of timber has been cut so we can have more corn......ethanol........
Accorindg to a blog on The Weather Channel, the court is floating in one piece at Hilton. This is not good.
Underwater: Record Iowa Flooding - weather.com
Underwater: Record Iowa Flooding - weather.com
Yeah, I just got a text that saying the same thing. Hilton's floor is in one piece...but floating.
The amount of CRP ground that has been lost the last couple decades is equivalent to an 8 mile wide strip from Omaha to Davenport. Most of that was heavy cover that soaks up a lot of runoff. Surely has to be among the contributing factors.
Nothing worse for runoff than pavement though, not sure how well Iowa does with enforcing stormwater detention on new developments. The cities probably do, but most of the development in the rural areas of the watersheds is probably not detained at all. Mother nature is mean this year, so much rain its unbelievable.
Just because I have seen it a few times in this thread...
A 100 year flood does not happen one every 100 years. A 50 year flood does not happen once every 50 years. Etc...
The terminology is a bit of a misnomer.
A 100 year flood has a 1% chance of occurring in any given year. A 50 year flood has a 2% chance of occurring in any given year. Etc...
Ames has been rolling snake eyes lately.
A 100 year flood does not happen one every 100 years. A 50 year flood does not happen once every 50 years. Etc...
The terminology is a bit of a misnomer.
A 100 year flood has a 1% chance of occurring in any given year. A 50 year flood has a 2% chance of occurring in any given year. Etc...
Ames has been rolling snake eyes lately.
Yes it does. It keeps the ground in good shape after minor to moderate rains when the rivers and creeks can move it out so that when heavier rains comes, that ground is not a saturated and can absorb more water.
When flooding like this occurs, the tile outlets are way below the water levels of the floods or creeks, so they can't be adding to the flooding.