Evacuation orders for Des Moines residents

by cynthia yoo | June 12, 2008 at 01:06 pm | 330 views | 2 comments

Des Moines residents have been told to evacuate the Birdland area north of downtown because of the rising Des Moines River.

Police Chief Judy Bradshaw says the area has about 220 homes and 20 to 30 businesses. She said it's a voluntary evacuation order and that the city is taking the step merely as a precaution in case the levee in the area begins to leak or if the river should top the levee. She said many people in the area already have left.
The affected area borders are Sheridan on the north, Guthrie Avenue on the south, 2nd Avenue on the west and Saylor Road on the east...view map of the area

Bradshaw said police are going door-to-door, leaving brochures, and calling people in the area. "If there have to be evacuations, we don't want them to be emergency evacuations," Bradshaw said.

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jordan

at 13:07 on June 12th, 2008

news wanted:

I think this is an important story and would benefit from other NowPublic contributors working on it. I've flagged it as News Wanted and invite others in relevant locations to look for more evidence.

jdkinzenbaw

at 22:47 on June 12th, 2008

I decided to head downtown Thursday night and caught these photos. A lot of people were milling around downtown. The water levels were definitely high, but Court Avenue had been pumped dry by that point, and the new walls were containing the river fairly well in those areas. If it would rise much farther, downtown could be seriously in trouble, but thankfully the rain stopped. Iowa City, Cedar Rapids, and Waterloo/Cedar Fall are in much worse shape.

jdkinzenbaw has contributed a photo to this story.