Storms cause minor flooding through Floyd County, north Iowa

Power went out, flood risk goes up for towns along Cedar River

 By Amie Johansen | amie@charlescitypress.com

Rain boots and umbrellas are getting a workout this summer. Wet weather is a hot topic lately, and, according to Meteorologist Dan Baumgardt, for good reason.

“8.41 (inches) is our August total, the normal has to be somewhere in the 3.5 inch range, I think,” he said of August rainfall averages.

Baumgardt’s estimated monthly average is close to what the Charles City area received last night over the course of just a few hours.

“Officially we had 3.24 inches of rain,” Curt Teeter of the Charles City Fire Department said.

Surrounding areas saw a greater variances from the three inch mark.

“Nashua had 1.45 inches, then if you go to like Mitchell County, a little bit north, Osage had 4.73 (inches), you start heading yourself east Cresco had six (inches), Decorah had seven to eight (inches),” Baumgardt said.

Although the storm has moved through, the Cedar River is fluctuating. Before Tuesday’s rain it sat around three feet. By late Tuesday evening and early Wednesday morning it jumped to roughly six feet. By 2 p.m. Wednesday the Cedar River measured just over eight feet. It is estimated the river will crest around 12.9 feet.

“So, that’s considered minor flooding,” Baumgardt said.

Neighboring river towns will see a greater flood risk.

“There is some impact to the Cedar River, most of the impacts are to the rivers east of there,” he said.

Besides heavy rainfall, thunder and lightning accompanied the Tuesday evening storm.

“We did have a handful of electrical outages due to lightning last night…had four different outages that occurred,” Ashton Hockman, of MidAmerican Energy Media Relations said.

The outages varied from one occasion affecting 10 customers and another affecting 449 customers. The length of time residents went without power varied from two minutes to nearly four hours.

“Our crews did have to repair some of the equipment that was damaged due to the lightning,” Hockman said.

While some damage did occur, according to Hockman, it was not an inordinate amount.

“A lot of times when we have weather moving through the area, that include thunder and lightning (damage) is possible,” she said.  

There was no storm damage reported to the Charles City Police Department.

According to Baumgardt, Floyd County residents should will feel a slight reprieve before more late summer storms hit the area.

“Once we get those northwest fronts it’ll dry out, but then we’re going to return to the (weekend)…we have the potential for more heavy rains,” he said.

The amount of rain is not an indication to the amount of snow that can be expected this winter.

“(There is) no correlation,” Baumgardt said.

In the meantime, don’t put the umbrellas and rain boots away just yet.

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