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State Library of Iowa

AmyRuth McGraw and David McGraw interview about the Midwest floods of June 2008, Iowa City, Iowa, October 1, 2008

AmyRuth McGraw and David McGraw interview about the Midwest floods of June 2008, Iowa City, Iowa, October 1, 2008

Title

AmyRuth McGraw and David McGraw interview about the Midwest floods of June 2008, Iowa City, Iowa, October 1, 2008

Description

Interview with wife and husband AmyRuth McGraw (37) of Fairfax, Virginia and David McGraw (35) of Euclid, Ohio.
David (age 35) tells his wife AmyRuth (age 37) about how he prepared for the Iowa River flood of 2008. As the stage manager for the University of Iowa theater department, he spearheaded the evacuation of the building.
David - Stage Manager for theater. Lots of "crisis management." Then started teaching at U of Iowa (00:00:40) -- Two weeks prior to evacuations - planning. Other departments in denial, but theater already had a phone list, mini-website, 800 member, wiki. Six days before evacuation (00:03:00) -- Timeline - second of June meeting, risk management. Using 1993 flood as a guideline (00:05:13) -- Moving things out of the basement - June 6. Power would go out after 18 inches of water (00:07:40) -- Rehearsing three shows for summer season. They were there when the first water came in. Started sandbagging (00:09:17) -- Monday/Tuesday - began evacuation. June 10. Thirty people, 4.5 hours to move everything to the first floor. Beat their 1993 time (00:12:20) -- Deal to use West High School for their new home. Had to change all the shows (00:14:40) -- Thursday - got the news that the first floor could also flood. Moving equipment. Moved costumes up into the lighting grid, hanging them from the pipes in the air (00:18:11) -- Friday at West High - canceled rehearsal in case bridges and roads were closed (00:22:03) -- Sharing the space with other groups. No air-conditioning (00:24:00) -- Still feels the summer season was a success (00:25:30) -- December 15 is the goal for getting back into the building. Went back to survey the damage (00:27:04) -- Temporary space in Brewery Square. Didn't lose what many other departments lost. Music lost a lot - organs, pianos (00:29:23) -- Affect on the students - no common space. Seniors having a hard time, but they are traveling and taking other opportunities (00:32:25)

Creator

McGraw, AmyRuth; McGraw, David

Publisher

StoryCorps (Project); University of Iowa. Libraries. Digital Research & Publishing

Date

2008-10-01
2008-10-01

Rights

Educational use only, no other permissions given. U.S. and international copyright laws may protect this item. Commercial use or distribution of this digital object is not permitted without written permission of the copyright holder.

Relation

Iowa City Flood
Flood Oral Histories

Format

mpeg
00:34:52

Language

English

Type

Sound
Oral histories (Document genres)

Identifier

DDA000503.mp3
https://digital.lib.uiowa.edu/

Collection