Rebecca Ann Hall and Bob Hall interview about the Midwest floods of June 2008, Iowa City, Iowa, October 1, 2008

Rebecca Ann Hall and Bob Hall interview about the Midwest floods of June 2008, Iowa City, Iowa, October 1, 2008

Interview with husband and wife Bob Hall (64) of Cedar Rapids, Iowa and Rebecca Ann Hall (61) of Iowa City, Iowa.

Rebecca and Bob talk about their experience of the Iowa floods of 2008 that damaged the home they built together in Iowa City.

House that was flooded was 41 years old, built the year Bob and Becky were married (00:01:05) -- Story of family leading up to flood. Days leading up to flood. Remembering flood of 1993. Sandbagging in the neighborhood, neighbors encouraged Bob and Becky to sandbag. Reluctant to go on vacation and leave the neighborhood (00:02:30) -- Bob talks about predictions being off (00:06:00) -- Becky remembers getting a sign in Estes Park to go back to Iowa. Becky wanted others to continue vacation (00:07:00) -- Bob talks about packing up the house. Becoming afraid when others were evacuated (00:10:08) -- Neighbors came to help. Lived with vacation clothes for months. Knowing how many tubs it takes to pack a room. Giving money to a stranger to buy tubs. Neighbors sandbagging really helped. Neighbors all tired from sandbagging (00:11:08) -- Son had just given Becky cell phone in May - used it often to be in touch (00:16:20) -- People who helped out, moving furniture, family and neighbors (00:17:00) -- Moving Becky's prized possession - a painting by her daughter (00:19:55) -- Police came to order evacuation. Chasing two guys with washer and dryer onto moving truck. Flooding began in neighborhood. Told to stop by police officer. Made it out (00:22:27) -- Staying at someone's house and being taken care of (00:26:30) -- Canoe at a friend's house that came in handy (00:27:43) -- Neighbor getting flooded, helping pull things up the hill. Announcements about road and bridge closings (00:29:14) -- Checking on son (00:30:33) -- Getting back to the house, gutting and rebuilding before school started. Things fell into place, able to rebuild (00:32:31) -- Bob talks about seeing Robert Schuller speak just before floods, message "don't be a victim", something Bob repeated to himself every day (00:34:33) -- Bob talks about people taking photos of rebuilding and cleanup process. Seeing house completely stripped down. Fortuitous timing (00:37:16) -- Becky thanks her father for having been around construction as a child (00:39:28) -- Bob talks about not having a master plan but just going one step at a time (00:40:10)

Hall, Bob; Hall, Rebecca Ann

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

00:41:10

English

Sound

Oral histories (Document genres)

DDA000506.mp3

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