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

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

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)

Brown, Lyda; Shoemaker, Joellen

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

2008-10-01

2008-10-01

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.

Iowa City Flood

Flood Oral Histories

mpeg

00:39:22

English

Sound

Oral histories (Document genres)

DDA000501.mp3

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