Deep Down In Iowa

By Betsy Rubiner/Des Moines

The 1993 deluge that swamped Iowa and much of the Upper Midwest was supposed to be a 500-year flood. Fifteen years later, Iowans are rethinking that judgment. In a spring of calamitous weather, the state's can-do stoicism was tested by two tornadoes; one tore through a Boy Scout camp and killed four teenagers. Rains then swelled the rivers and strained the levees, which burst indiscriminately. Iowa's second largest city, Cedar Rapids (pop. 124,000), and one of its smallest towns, Chelsea (pop. 276), were inundated. On Friday the 13th, downtown Des Moines was under voluntary evacuation. The surge was both overwhelming and fickle. Neighbors on high ground saw friends next door lose cars to a furious downpour. The massive tide is sweeping through Illinois, Missouri and points downstream, raising questions about the adequacy of the levee system designed to guard against flooding. In Iowa the cost mounts: 20% of the corn crop has drowned, 38,000 people have been displaced, and Cedar Rapids alone may need $1 billion to recover.

Raging Rivers For more pictures of the Iowa floods, go to time.com/iowafloods