<![CDATA[Iowa Heritage Digital Collections]]> https://www.iowaheritage.org/items/browse/page/10?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=49&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=2000-2010&sort_field=added&output=rss2 Thu, 28 Mar 2024 13:55:46 +0000 publications@silo.lib.ia.us (Iowa Heritage Digital Collections) Zend_Feed http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss <![CDATA[Local library administrators discuss the Midwest floods of June 2008, Iowa City, Iowa, November 4, 2008]]> https://www.iowaheritage.org/items/show/11842

Title

Local library administrators discuss the Midwest floods of June 2008, Iowa City, Iowa, November 4, 2008

Description

Library administrators from The University of Iowa Libraries and the Cedar Rapids Public Library discuss library evacuation and recovery efforts.

Creator

Baker, Nancy; Johnson, Karen M.; Kraft, Nancy E.; McTyre, Ruthann; Templeton, Rijn

Publisher

University of Iowa. School of Library and Information Science; University of Iowa. Libraries; Cedar Rapids (Iowa). Cedar Rapids Public Library

Date

2008-11-04
2008-11-04

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
01:47:35

Language

English

Type

Sound
Oral histories (Document genres)

Identifier

LibraryAdminFlood08.mp3
https://digital.lib.uiowa.edu/
http://128.255.22.135/cgi-bin/thumbnail.jpg
]]>
Tue, 23 Oct 2012 15:23:32 +0000
<![CDATA[Ron Clark and Thomas J. Bender interview about the Midwest floods of June 2008, Iowa City, Iowa, September 30, 2008]]> https://www.iowaheritage.org/items/show/11844

Title

Ron Clark and Thomas J. Bender interview about the Midwest floods of June 2008, Iowa City, Iowa, September 30, 2008

Description

Interview with friends Ron Clark (58) of Muscatine, Iowa and Thomas J. Bender (54) of Iowa City, Iowa.
Thomas (age 54) and Ron (age 58) are involved in the Riverside Theater, and they talk about how the summer Shakespeare Festival was affected and how the community came together.
Tom's background with the Riverside Theater - small setting, fell in love when he come to see Ron's shows (00:01:45) -- Tom called Ron - Tom's office right on the river, was concerned about Riverside's costume shop. Sandbagging, sealing. Ron thought he was overreacting (00:02:51) -- Summer Shakespeare Festival about to start - Tom had been in insurance and risk management (00:04:37) -- November through May - lots of rain. Ron in denial about the flood. Couldn't rely on the news reports. "CFS" - Cubic Feet per Second became a commonly known acronym. Reservoir was supposed to protect them - now it was the "enemy." (00:05:30) -- Ron's wife, artistic director. They started researching it, worrying about scene shop. It had flooded in 1993 - supposed to be a "100 year flood" (00:09:00) -- Twelve people, three pickup trucks - evacuated the shop. Couldn't get everything. Run on temporary storage in the area. People being evacuated from multiple places in a row. Barely time to look at the big picture (00:10:45) -- Tom - sandbagging in Coralville (00:13:35) -- The morning the levee broke - volunteers came out of the woodwork. Mini-sandbag factory, 80-90 people. Needed 1,700 sandbags. Three foot wall around building (00:15:36) -- Tom with his son Robby - knew they had to get a generator started. Police stopped him, Tom begged to get past. Parked on the median. Exhausted, pitch black. Had to swim to the building - son went first. Swam alone for fifteen minutes. Fearing for his son's life (00:18:06) -- Going to the scene/costume shop. Very dangerous - building had been lifted off the foundation. Building in danger of collapse. Getting ill from the air down there. "Worse than Hell" (00:23:23) -- Ron talks about the Shakespeare Festival - performed "A Comedy of Errors." Received lots of contributions to recover losses (00:32:48) -- Outdoor theater - built sandbag wall extra eight feet high to get it "above the flood level." Company meeting in the midst of the flood. Didn't want to cancel the festival. Last rehearsal in City Park - water coming up. Knew no one else would see that performance. Moved to City High (00:34:06) -- Recovery, Iowa City government (00:41:00)

Creator

Clark, Ron; Bender, Thomas J.

Publisher

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

Date

2008-09-30
2008-09-30

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
00:43:26

Language

English

Type

Sound
Oral histories (Document genres)

Identifier

DDA000495.mp3
https://digital.lib.uiowa.edu/
http://128.255.22.135/cgi-bin/thumbnail.jpg
]]>
Tue, 23 Oct 2012 15:23:33 +0000
<![CDATA[Elizabeth Fox and Eleisha Barnett interview about the Midwest floods of June 2008, Iowa City, Iowa, September 30, 2008]]> https://www.iowaheritage.org/items/show/11846

Title

Elizabeth Fox and Eleisha Barnett interview about the Midwest floods of June 2008, Iowa City, Iowa, September 30, 2008

Description

Interview with coworkers Elizabeth Fox (22) of Dubuque, Iowa and Eleisha Barnett (48) of Anchorage, Alaska.
Elizabeth (age 22) and Eleisha (age 48) discuss their experiences during the flood of 2008. They discuss preparing the basement of the Office of State Archaeologist for flooding.
The day [of the flood] levee breaking on Cedar River. Office making preparations for flood. Spent week in basement preparing Office of State Archaeologist. Three rivers Eleisha crosses to get to work. Remembers driving home that day: various detours (00:00:43) -- Flood of 2003 - posting pictures on Facebook (00:05:40) -- News that levee had broken sewage plants shut down, stocking up on water. Lost internet and cell phones (00:06:34) -- Time after the flood, areas under water. Highway 1 closed. Compares damage to an earthquake (00:08:30) -- Elizabeth's experience of the flood - moving up collections. Having co-workers stay. Main road in Coralville flooding - "The Strip" (00:10:30) -- Elizabeth and a friend went sandbagging. Like "migrant farm workers." Highway closings. Deciding whether or not to leave. Path out of Iowa City. Not expecting it to get so bad. Feeling bad about not being there sandbagging (00:12:50) -- University closing (00:17:20) -- Eleisha came back into work. No one there (00:17:50) -- Remembers a t-shirt a co-worker made "Non-essential personnel and proud of it." (00:19:38) -- Feeling of "living history." Gathering things of historical importance. Sending links around the world, contact with new friends. Sharing pictures (00:20:22) -- "Feeling like I could help more." Taking food to people who were displaced. Finding detours. Seeing countryside (00:21:50) -- Almost getting rid of flood photos. Amazing to see contrasts. Flag pole flying for person killed in 9/11 Pentagon attacks. People knocked down but came right up again. Gas station coming back (00:23:31) -- Prehistoric sites - had to check and see if anything turned up. Seeing a muddy doll - things that came up out of people's basements (00:26:28) -- Thinking about the horses. Eleisha was around when Mt. St. Helens blew up. This was so much damage (00:27:46) -- For weeks later smelled like dead fish (00:28:50) -- Sending pictures out and responses. Concerns about Eleisha and her family. People asking for more and more news in Sweden and Australia. Facebook friends. Started sending news links to local channels. "The scientist in me." Mentions Katrina - also worldwide. Iowa floods third largest disaster after Iowa and Katrina. Lived for getting the news out (00:29:34) -- Keeping in touch with co-workers. Forging deeper friendships. Chance to reach out to people (00:32:29) -- Making meals for people in community. Remembers a single mother who moved out of apartment. Invited her over to play with kids. Getting in touch with former co-workers (00:33:50) -- Library flooded with people getting news from outside world (00:36:30) -- Elizabeth remembers tornado warning once they got to Rhineback. Sending links to local paper. Being in touch with relatives. Worries about basement apartment (00:37:35) -- Thinking about Katrina. Elizabeth went down to New Orleans with Habitat for Humanity. Ninth ward still desolate. Comparison of how government handled victims. Things that went wrong (00:39:10)

Creator

Fox, Elizabeth; Barnett, Eleisha

Publisher

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

Date

2008-09-30
2008-09-30

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
00:41:16

Language

English

Type

Sound
Oral histories (Document genres)

Identifier

DDA000496.mp3
https://digital.lib.uiowa.edu/
http://128.255.22.135/cgi-bin/thumbnail.jpg
]]>
Tue, 23 Oct 2012 15:23:33 +0000
<![CDATA[Sally and Kenneth Mason interview about the Midwest floods of June 2008, Iowa City, Iowa, September 30, 2008]]> https://www.iowaheritage.org/items/show/11848

Title

Sally and Kenneth Mason interview about the Midwest floods of June 2008, Iowa City, Iowa, September 30, 2008

Description

Interview with husband and wife Kenneth A. Mason (49) of Concord, California and Sally Mason (58) of New York City, New York.
Kenneth (age 49) and Sally (age 58) discuss the floods on The University of Iowa campus. Sally had been the President of the University for less than a year when the floods began.
Sally had been President of University of Iowa for less than a year when it happened (00:00:50) -- First talked about a potential flood in March, because of winter weather. Realized it was a reality [flooding] - a week before the crest. A "rollercoaster" of preparations (00:02:12) -- Hardest part of this: Friday the 13th of June. Seeing the auditorium go under water. Early morning flood meeting (00:04:15) CBS Morning Show interview. Seeing a new building under water (00:06:48) -- Kenneth - seeing the community come together. Filling sandbags with everyone. Hearing stories from students - a man was supposed to have his wedding in the Student Union. Moving the Museum of Art collection, 21 grand pianos, the Bookstore (00:08:30) -- Tuesday - phone call from Governor Culver. Sally said she needed more help - Culver sent the National Guard. Thought water had missed the library, but two inches got in. Power plant went down. Temporary boilers put in. Need to keep the campus heated (00:12:10) -- Water plant was spared - very important (00:18:50) -- Sally handling media requests - optimism, opportunities (00:19:30) -- 1.1 million sandbags - worried about how to get people to go home. Able to send sandbags to other communities (00:21:00) -- Gathering donations and support from alumni. Letters from all over the world (00:23:00) -- Arts campus most affects - old buildings around the city now housing art departments (00:26:40) -- Learning to "live with the river." 100-year and 500-year floods. Scientists and engineers able to give predictions. Hydraulics lab, hydrologists working on it (00:30:00) -- Director of the National Science Foundation came, energized the science departments (00:33:47) -- Building, rebuilding (00:36:31)

Creator

Mason, Kenneth A.; Mason, Sally

Publisher

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

Date

2008-09-30
2008-09-30

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
00:36:55

Language

English

Type

Sound
Oral histories (Document genres)

Identifier

DDA000497.mp3
https://digital.lib.uiowa.edu/
http://128.255.22.135/cgi-bin/thumbnail.jpg
]]>
Tue, 23 Oct 2012 15:23:34 +0000
<![CDATA[Donald Baxter and Carol Johnk interview about the Midwest floods of June 2008, Iowa City, Iowa, September 30, 2008]]> https://www.iowaheritage.org/items/show/11851

Title

Donald Baxter and Carol Johnk interview about the Midwest floods of June 2008, Iowa City, Iowa, September 30, 2008

Description

Interview with friends and coworkers Carol Johnk (51) of Hudson, South Dakota and Donald Baxter (50) of Atlanta, Georgia.
Carol and Donald discuss sandbagging before the floods hit. They also remember photographing the surreal scenes that the floods produced.
Donald and Carol were sandbagging. Describe the process. As the flood was coming. To protect from the flood (00:00:51) -- Carol talks about the unreality of the flood - like a movie. Donald agrees (00:02:58) -- Donald remembers when the flood came. Sandbagging helped. Spent a week off of work (00:03:48) -- University shut down for a week. Then asked to document flood damage. Both Carol and Donald volunteered to help (00:05:59) -- Donald photographed the art museum. Speed of mold growth (00:07:14) -- Carol took pictures of the music building (00:08:35) -- Donald photographing old art building basement. Seeing things left behind. History being removed (00:09:14) -- Donald photographed steam plant. Seeing parts of university never seen before. Carol got into a building she had never been in before. Totally dark room using flash to illuminate, seeing a huge laser for a few instances. Rooms lit only by repeating flash (00:11:19) -- Opening a door into an underground tunnel going from building to building (00:14:54) -- Tunnels caused huge problems that sandbagging could not prevent (00:15:40) -- Learning Iowa used to be a huge inland sea. Donald and Carol talk about relationship to water, flooding (00:16:42) -- Donald talks about sandbagging and being part of a large scale natural disaster - seeing people you know. Proof of "social capital and community pride." Everyone was out. Children filling up bags and a blind person filling up bags (00:22:03) -- Carol on photographing a flooded apartment building. Carol remembers a particular apartment - one woman had all of her things in the apartment, couldn't get her things out (00:23:14) -- Donald talks about seeing a neighborhood in Cedar Rapids. Feeling lucky to have been in Iowa City. Entire neighborhoods flooded. Iowa City has a dam (00:25:19) -- Carol visited Coralville. Seeing flood water was beautiful during the sunset. Trouble with beauty of those pictures (00:27:45) -- Rains before the flood. Beauty of weather during the flood (00:29:00) -- Eating gritty cold cuts. Living with sand for weeks. Smell inside buildings (00:30:43) -- Cleaning crews who came in were amazing. People who go around the country and clean up after disasters. Often immigrant labor. Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador. Iowa has had recent immigrant raids. "Made me feel guilty." Losing helmets (00:32:40) -- One of Donald's pictures of ducks swimming around parking meters (00:39:05) -- Carol took pictures for her family (00:39:35)

Creator

Johnk, Carol; Baxter, Donald

Publisher

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

Date

2008-09-30
2008-09-30

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
00:41:55

Language

English

Type

Sound
Oral histories (Document genres)

Identifier

DDA000498.mp3
https://digital.lib.uiowa.edu/
http://128.255.22.135/cgi-bin/thumbnail.jpg
]]>
Tue, 23 Oct 2012 15:23:34 +0000
<![CDATA[Stacy Dykema and Liz Ford interview about the Midwest floods of June 2008, Iowa City, Iowa, September 30, 2008]]> https://www.iowaheritage.org/items/show/11853

Title

Stacy Dykema and Liz Ford interview about the Midwest floods of June 2008, Iowa City, Iowa, September 30, 2008

Description

Interview with colleagues Stacy Dykema (37) of Freeport, Illinois and Liz Ford (41) of Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Liz (age 41) and Stacy (age 37) discuss how the Iowa flood affected their animal shelter. They talk about taking in rescued animals, relocating to a fairground barn, and the future of their non-profit.
First week of preparations, relocating to fairgrounds. Could only have it five weeks (00:01:00) -- Stacy - an animal care technician for ten years (00:02:50) -- Using preparations from the 1993 flood. June 7, first day of sandbagging (00:03:39) -- Moved adoptable cat room first - least stressed out to move, friendliest. Great volunteers. The "core group" on call 24/7 (00:05:22) -- Moving dogs in Animal Control trucks. Animals handled it well, even without air conditioning (00:07:40) -- Volunteers started a drive for more funding. Donations from all over the country. Emergency grants. American Kennel Club, Purina (00:11:06) -- Evacuees - bringing animals to them. Animals had to be rescued from flooded homes (00:14:16) -- Missouri National Guard - taken into the shelter by boat. Ruined vaccines and medicine (00:16:59) -- Specific animal stories - one cat who tried to run away (00:20:45) -- Animals sensing stress from humans (00:27:15) -- Red Cross building on the fairground too - being able to see their animals. How many people needed their help, from all walks of life (00:28:30) -- New location - five miles south, not ideal. Not as clean, bad air flow (00:32:30) -- Want to build a new shelter - don't know if they can go back to the old space (00:35:40) -- Question of money, planning. People can't just "stop by," UI students without cars can't get there (00:36:43) -- One animal that couldn't go back to her own home after the flood. Decision not to euthanize any animals, working 16-hour days (00:39:00)

Creator

Dykema, Stacy; Ford, Liz

Publisher

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

Date

2008-09-30
2008-09-30

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
00:42:07

Language

English

Type

Sound
Oral histories (Document genres)

Identifier

DDA000499.mp3
https://digital.lib.uiowa.edu/
http://128.255.22.135/cgi-bin/thumbnail.jpg
]]>
Tue, 23 Oct 2012 15:23:35 +0000
<![CDATA[Dan Gall and Kristi Bontrager interview about the Midwest floods of June 2008, Iowa City, Iowa, September 30, 2008]]> https://www.iowaheritage.org/items/show/11855

Title

Dan Gall and Kristi Bontrager interview about the Midwest floods of June 2008, Iowa City, Iowa, September 30, 2008

Description

Interview with friends and colleagues Kristi Bontrager (38) of Akron, Ohio and Dan Gall (39) of Cleveland, Ohio.
Dan (age 39) and Kristi (age 38) discuss evacuating Dan's residence before the floods. They discuss the sense of comradery Dan witnessed as he helped a community in their sandbagging efforts.
Hearing about flood of 1993 as Dan was looking for a home. Rented in Mosquito Flats neighborhood. Obviously a flood plain (00:01:21) -- Dan remembers the timeline. Feels like a lucky one from the flood (00:03:28) -- Dan describes events before the flood. Steam carpet cleaned scheduled for Friday morning of flood. Came very close to things being much worse (00:04:00) -- Lead-up to flood, getting release from University to go fill sandbags. Going to old neighborhood to help build retaining wall. Mowing the lawn after spending hours sandbagging - something so trivial (00:06:55) -- Evacuation orders. Getting stuff out of rental house. Wall didn't do much when flood came. Dan describes where the wall was built and where it broke. A mile long wall. Taller than six feet (00:09:33) -- the sandbag filling was strangely festive. Sense of shared purpose - saving their own house or there because people needed help - Dan had already moved but wanted to help (00:12:25) -- Dan's wife also worked sandbagging and trading off childcare. Some people building their own wall (00:14:03) -- Having strangers in the neighborhood - there to help but felt also invasive. Mostly a "real communal thing" (00:15:29) -- Dan's son worries about water damage and flood - five years old. Hadn't had a chance to say goodbye to the house. Afraid that house had literally been "washed away" (00:16:26) -- Rental house had two feet of water in it and is now completely gutted (00:20:21) -- Dan feels bad for the family who own the house - house is their family home. Tried to protect property as much as possible (00:21:12) -- How flood affected Meredith. Neighborhood they moved to was virtually unaffected. Big worry about creeks backing up in new neighborhood (00:23:59) -- Impression of city government and university response to flood. Reasonably good response. At first university tried to keep track of hours but then endorsed any kind of flood relief (00:27:31) -- Number of people volunteering, filling sandbags. "That impressed me" (00:30:00) -- Pulling books out of the library to save. Chaos of book trucks and hand-over-hand passing. Running over guy's toes next to him. A young teenager at bottom of ramp who worked well with Dan. No idea who this woman is (00:31:54) -- Dark humor and teasing - Dan running people over. "It's a lot more pleasant if people laugh" (00:36:12) -- Columbus Junction started flood damage control measures. Realized town was doomed and went to another town to help (00:37:57) -- Plans to stay in Iowa to be close to grandma and grandpa. Always something to worry about (00:39:00)

Creator

Bontrager, Kristi; Gall, Dan

Publisher

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

Date

2008-09-30
2008-09-30

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
00:39:50

Language

English

Type

Sound
Oral histories (Document genres)

Identifier

DDA000500.mp3
https://digital.lib.uiowa.edu/
http://128.255.22.135/cgi-bin/thumbnail.jpg
]]>
Tue, 23 Oct 2012 15:23:35 +0000
<![CDATA[Joellen Shoemaker and Lyda Brown interview about the Midwest floods of June 2008, Iowa City, Iowa, October 1, 2008]]> https://www.iowaheritage.org/items/show/11857

Title

Joellen Shoemaker and Lyda Brown interview about the Midwest floods of June 2008, Iowa City, Iowa, October 1, 2008

Description

Interview with friends and neighbors Lyda Brown (69) of Butler, Missouri and Joellen Shoemaker (68) of Des Moines, Iowa.
Lyda (age 69) talks with her friend and former neighbor, Joellen (age 68) about the flooding that drove them out of their neighborhood. They talk about evacuating, losing their homes, and their hopes to rebuild.
Their neighborhood, Idyllwild, wasn't supposed to flood. Little flood insurance. Water in 1993 was nowhere near them (00:01:50) -- Feel betrayed - FEMA told them they would be okay (00:03:33) -- Moving things to the second floor, moved furniture out. Joellen let her neighbor use the moving van instead of her (00:05:15) -- Four feet of water in their units. No basement to fill up first. Bad smell. Things on the counters still got covered (00:08:33) -- Lyda lived with her son for a month, then her rental was sold, had to move again. "Nightmare" (00:11:18) -- Joellen rented a place, hopes to move back soon (00:12:50) -- Removed from the FEMA buyout list, so they can apply for grants. Units are down to the studs, missing doors, facing Iowa winter (00:15:27) -- Idyllwild Association - acting on behalf of the entire neighborhood -- $22,000 up-front to remove mold. People going bankrupt, units selling for $1 (00:18:30) -- Legal implications. Going back would be cheaper than relocating. Want to rebuild (00:22:17) -- Moved out on June 12, first FEMA inspection June 23. Feelings during that time, dealing with FEMA (00:28:05) -- Joellen got less than half from FEMA than her neighbors. Fought to get equal treatment (00:32:00) -- Lessons: don't believe the authorities. Dealing with neighbors (00:35:16)

Creator

Brown, Lyda; Shoemaker, Joellen

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
00:39:22

Language

English

Type

Sound
Oral histories (Document genres)

Identifier

DDA000501.mp3
https://digital.lib.uiowa.edu/
http://128.255.22.135/cgi-bin/thumbnail.jpg
]]>
Tue, 23 Oct 2012 15:23:36 +0000
<![CDATA[Kenneth Schumacher and Chuck Swanson interview about the Midwest floods of June 2008, Iowa City, Iowa, October 1, 2008]]> https://www.iowaheritage.org/items/show/11859

Title

Kenneth Schumacher and Chuck Swanson interview about the Midwest floods of June 2008, Iowa City, Iowa, October 1, 2008

Description

Interview with employee and supervisor Kenneth Schumacher (59) of Manning, Iowa and Chuck Swanson (55) of Cherokee, Iowa.
Chuck Swanson (age 55) talks to his employee, Ken Schumacher (age 59) about the Iowa flood of 2008 and its effect on Hancher, a performing arts space in Iowa City where both Chuck and Ken work.
Chuck remembers being told about the flood. Rescheduling and moving. "Ceasing normal operations." Canceling a performance, getting a dance group to the airport (00:01:14) -- Chuck and Ken remember Friday morning before the flood. Getting locked out of the building by the police (00:07:00) -- Next week, being told to stay away from offices. Beautiful weather during flood. Staff met up during days of flood. Getting news of a big donation. Calls from artists and people all over the country. People wanting to help but nothing they could do (00:09:50) -- Ken talks about difference of being flooded out of theater versus an office. Watching the water rise. Eerie quiet (00:13:21) -- Chuck talks about getting a call from supporter about Hancher being on the news - press had approval to get tour of Hancher. Chuck went in before any of clean-up. Stench, darkness (00:17:16) -- Clean-up process. 180 or 200 people inside cleaning. BMS clean-up service. Supervisor who had been through other catastrophes was truly impressed by Iowa clean-up response (00:19:35) -- Lisa from the box office - rash from the flood water. Danger of contaminated water (00:21:30) -- Stage curtain - extremely damaged (00:22:49) -- All instincts were wrong (00:23:29) -- Chuck remembers getting artwork out of Hancher. Carrying out the portrait of Virgil Hancher (00:23:59) -- Ken - concerns about getting everything restored for opening night (00:27:00) -- Chuck on finishing up the season in different spaces. Frustration about not knowing when they will be back in (00:28:30) -- Chuck talks about the year before the flood - of brining Joffrey ballet on a huge tour. Various artists - events of quality and stature. 35-year anniversary such a contrast to being flooded out (00:31:20) -- Ken talks about dealing with companies and breaking the news that the performance will not be at Hancher. Making adjustments (00:33:41) -- Chuck on role of Hancher in Eastern Iowa community. Hancher as a recruitment tool (00:35:55) -- Worries about employees coming back or not (00:39:00) -- Ken is Production Manager, Chuck is the Executive Director. Each give a brief description of what they do (00:41:00) -- Hopes for the re-opening of Hancher (00:42:00)

Creator

Schumacher, Kenneth; Swanson, Chuck

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
00:43:22

Language

English

Type

Sound
Oral histories (Document genres)

Identifier

DDA000502.mp3
https://digital.lib.uiowa.edu/
http://128.255.22.135/cgi-bin/thumbnail.jpg
]]>
Tue, 23 Oct 2012 15:23:36 +0000
<![CDATA[AmyRuth McGraw and David McGraw interview about the Midwest floods of June 2008, Iowa City, Iowa, October 1, 2008]]> https://www.iowaheritage.org/items/show/11861

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/
http://128.255.22.135/cgi-bin/thumbnail.jpg
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