Former Cedar Rapids Mayor Ron Corbett discusses the emotions and lessons of the 2008 floods during the CBJ’s Commercial Real Estate Luncheon on June 13. PHOTO ADAM MOORE
By Dave DeWitte
dave@corridorbusiness.com
The emotions from the 2008 floods haven’t faded from the Corridor, former Cedar Rapids Mayor Ron Corbett told area business and government leaders at the CBJ’s annual Commercial Real Estate Luncheon, and the revival of the area that began with the flood shouldn’t either.
Cedar Rapids was the epicenter of the flood devastation in the Iowa, with 18,000 residents evacuated, nearly 5,400 homes damaged or destroyed, 300 public buildings damaged and 900 businesses affected. As the Cedar River hit a record crest of 31 feet on June 13, most of the city’s drinking water wells were knocked out, electrical and natural gas supplies were cut off to a large part of the city and Iowa National Guard members manned blockades.
In the aftermath, about 1,360 jobs were lost, as companies like Swiss Valley Farms and Norwood Souvenir decided to move away rather than rebuild.
Similar impacts were felt throughout the Corridor – in Coralville and Iowa City as the Iowa River flooded, and in Palo and Waterloo, which are both on the Cedar.
Mr. Corbett wasn’t mayor during the flood, but he picked up the reins in the next mayoral term from Kay Halloran, and led the city for two terms in which flood recovery was a constant priority. Dealing with the impact of the flood was so overwhelming, Mr. Corbett said, that it was hard to know where to start.
For Cedar Rapids, he said, the emotional impact of the disaster remains ever-present.
“Whenever you have an experience, especially a traumatic experience, that stays with you, and 2008 was definitely a traumatic experience in our region,” Mr. Corbett told the audience of more than 470 at the DoubleTree by Hilton Cedar Rapids Convention Center.
He also saw strong positives coming from the flood, however, and listed three in particular. The first was the creation of stronger emotional ties within the region.
“The flood brought the region together,” Mr. Corbett said. “It wasn’t just Iowa City that got flooded. It wasn’t just Palo that got flooded. It wasn’t just Coralville, Cedar Rapids – it was everybody who flooded. If your house wasn’t flooded, you knew somebody’s who was. If your business wasn’t flooded, you knew somebody’s who was.”
That emotional connection extends to the region’s achievement in rebuilding from the flood, he added.
“The greater the decline, the greater the accomplishments, the greater the satisfaction,” Mr. Corbett said. “The pain will never go away, but emotionally it’s great to celebrate the successes and what we’ve overcome.”
The advancement of entrepreneurship was a second positive outcome identified by Mr. Corbett, now leader of business retention and expansion strategies at the Cedar Rapids Metro Economic Alliance.
The recovery “wasn’t from the top-down, it was from the bottom-up,” he said. “It was from people, organizations, businesses throwing in a helping hand.”
Clint Twedt-Ball, executive director of the Matthew 25 Ministry, is a good example, Mr. Corbett said. He was a Methodist minister and decided to swing into action by creating a flood recovery program.
“He’s supposed to take care of the sick and the poor, right? No, he’s an entrepreneur. He created Block by Block.”
The Block by Block program helped homeowners in lower- and moderate-income areas rebuild and strengthen their neighborhoods after the flood. Mr. Twedt-Ball raised funds from the community, and found strong community backing, including more than $1 million from CRST International owners John and Dyan Smith. Matthew 25 has continued strengthening the community, with projects like a community garden and greenhouse in Cedar Rapids’ Time Check neighborhood.
“After he got the venture capital he went out and acted,” Mr. Corbett said. “He didn’t wait for everybody to buy into the idea, he acted. That’s what entrepreneurs do.”
A third positive outcome was enabling Corridor communities to “repaint our community canvas.”
“Rarely during our adult lives do we have a chance to erase and start a new canvas,” he said. “How often do we say, ‘I wish I had a chance to do this over again?’”
“The flood of 2008 took away that if-only,” he continued. “We had this moment of opportunity to repaint our community canvases, and we did. I don’t know if there’d be a new Hancher Auditorium today [at the University of Iowa], I don’t know if there’d be this new convention center – it’s unlikely there’d be Kingston Village on the other side of the river.”
That repainting is continuing, Mr. Corbett added.
“Should the rebuilding of our communities and our region stop? I say, no. It should be one of the biggest risks our community faces, to stop and let complacency take root.”
Community leaders gathered less than two hours later for the dedication of the West Side Rising Memorial, a flood memorial at the corner of O Avenue and Sixth Street NW in Time Check. Council Member Ann Poe, who represents the neighborhood, asked for prayers for the residents who are still dealing with the aftermath of the flood, while former Gov. Chet Culver, who visited the city repeatedly to help local leaders deal with the recovery, expressed pride and confidence in the city’s rebuilding.
“Our hope is that nobody ever faces this kind of devastation again,” Mayor Brad Hart said, promising residents the city hasn’t forgotten what they suffered. “Our efforts will continue until we have permanent flood protection on both sides of the river.”
More than 470 attended the June 13 luncheon, presented by the University of Northern Iowa Center for Real Estate Education, with major sponsorship from GLD Commercial, the city of Cedar Rapids, Shive Hattery Architecture + Engineering and University of Iowa Community Credit Union
