CEDAR RAPIDS, (Iowa), June 14 (Agencies): Days after it swamped Cedar Rapids and forced thousands of people out of their homes, the Cedar River has begun falling. But the misery could stretch on for days.
Officials guess it will be four days before the Cedar River drops enough for workers to even begin pumping out water that has submerged more than 400 blocks, threatened the city's drinking supply and forced the evacuation of a downtown hospital.
The Cedar River crested Friday night at nearly 32 feet, 12 feet higher than the old record set in 1929.
Even as the river slowly recedes, officials worried that the city's supply of fresh drinking water would run out. Only one of the city's half-dozen wells was working, and it was protected by sandbags and generators that were pumping water away from it.
The scope of the damage was extensive, with preliminary damages estimates in Cedar Rapids of $737 million, and officials foresee a long recovery.
Just south of Cedar Rapids, in Iowa City, Gov. Chet Culver warned that more dramatic flooding could be on the way as the Iowa River rises.
In Cedar Rapids on Friday the full scope of the damage was becoming clear. At least 438 city blocks were under water, hospital patients in wheelchairs and stretchers were evacuated in the middle of the night, and officials said as many as 10,000 townspeople had been driven from their homes in this city of 120,000.
About 100 miles to the west, the Des Moines River teetered on the brink of flooding Des Moines. The river had been expected to crest on Friday night, but officials were worried enough to request a voluntary evacuation of low-lying areas in the downtown area of Iowa's biggest city.
