Cleanup Effort of the Cedar River in the Cedar Rapids, Iowa Area

I’ve never had an opportunity to be involved with disaster work or cleanup outside of sandbagging and helping friends/neighbors with flooded basements. When United Way of the Quad Cities decided to send volunteers to Cedar Rapids, I was anxious to go along to help. We heard of the efforts of Living Lands and Waters (Chad Pregracke’s crew) in the Cedar Rapids area working to cleanup the river and its banks of debris left behind by the devastating flood. After learning that the group was having a difficult time getting volunteers to come assist them in the efforts, my United Way decided to adopt/sponsor two days – providing a bus each day on July 8 and 10 for all the volunteers we could get signed up.

Personally, I am very active in river cleanup efforts in Iowa. I work on several throughout the year including a week-long river cleanup sponsored by Iowa DNR/IOWATER called Project AWARE, and coordinate a weekend-long cleanup myself on the Lower Wapsipinicon.  None of this prepared me for what I encountered in Cedar Rapids.

You see, when you do a river cleanup, most times you are picking up discarded items – things left behind and forgotten – lots of cans and bottles, tires, broken fishing poles, parts from hunting blinds, styrofoam broken free from docks, lawn chairs, pieces of cars and old farm equipment. What struck me on this cleanup was the nature of what we were gathering.

Once we arrived and were welcomed, we were given the safety guidelines and an overview of the day. We were split into teams and taken by boat out to our work areas.  All along the river are towering logjams, barrels upon barrels sealed with who-knows-what chemicals, a million pieces of anything and everything. As we are flying by in the boats you see items hanging from trees three-fourths of the way up their trunks which gives you a fleeting idea of the magnitude of the flood waters.  Once we came to our destination we unloaded from the boats and stood facing an unimaginable mess strewn all over the ground, tangled in the logjams, and hanging from those trees. There was so much I was stunned with thinking how are we – a small group of 13 plus the 5 LL&W crew - ever going to clean this all up? Just like anything this big, you start with what is in front of you and keep on working your way through.  This is when it hits you – as you start picking up the items and bagging them or dragging the large items to the shore edge – these aren’t thing left behind or forgotten. Yes there is trash galore, but mixed in there is a whole lot of something else. What you are picking up are things that were cherished or used every day and are now missed – a purse, a child’s pool, a comfortable chair, a garden bench, pieces of new vehicles, a tricycle. The one that struck me the most was a handful of faded family pictures with a newspaper clipping on someone’s 60th wedding anniversary. You are glimpsing at pieces of lives washed away with the raging waters.

Later in the day the Living Lands and Waters crew took us up river to see the collapsed bridges. After that, we landed and we were led up and over a dyke. The crew wanted to show us just a little bit of what the good folks of Cedar Rapids were trying to handle and how we were playing a part in helping them reclaim their community.   As I came over the top of that dyke, we were looking down into a neighborhood. Everything in the papers or on the news didn’t even begin to touch what I saw. When you think of a neighborhood you think of homes, cars, people, children playing outside, gardens, dogs in the yards, people coming and going. The desolation is difficult at best to describe - there was a void of normality. It was like going from color to black and white – it was stark and static. These homes were covered in pale brown river silt, emptied - their contents piled at the curb. No families were there, no cars coming and going, and there was hardly any movement. My heart sank in my chest for these people as I couldn’t grasp the personal loss and the enormity of what they still face.

There are some dangers out there, but playing it smart will keep you safe.  If you are going to work in a flood-affected area, wear vinyl gloves under your work gloves, long pants, and hiking boots or thick soled shoes to protect your feet, be mindful of keeping your hands away from your eyes and mouth, clean any cuts immediately, and other common sense hygiene practices including washing up well when you are done! If you have a compromised immune system, if you have an illness or just getting over one, it is advised that you avoid volunteering for this work.

I’m amazed at the Living Lands and Waters crew – just a small handful of people going out every single day facing all this and tackling one piece at a time. What an incredible group of people. But what you should know is that they are just regular folks like you and I, and they could use your help. The crew is uncertain how long they will be in the area – depending on progress. I would like to encourage any groups, companies or individuals to consider volunteering – drive up yourself, carpool, or rent a bus. The crew is working every day, and has a base location that is very easy to find on the outside edge of Cedar Rapids. Every person that can help for a half-day or full day really does make a huge difference. To volunteer (you must be 18 years or older and very able-bodied) please contact Tammy Becker via email at tammy@livinglandsandwaters.org or by cell at 309-236-0725.  Their website says “volunteers should expect to work hard, get hot and sweaty, pestered by mosquitoes, dirty and muddy, but feel really rewarded they assisted for such a worthy cause”.  Cleaning the river will not only improve the safety for anyone using the river and the riverfront, but the health of the river has a direct impact on the health of the community it supports. For myself, I’m saddened by the overwhelming need, but thankful for the opportunity to be a small part of the help and the healing.
 
Melisa Jacobsen
AFL-CIO Community Services Labor Liaison
United Way of the Quad Cities Area

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Terry O’Connell
Davenport
Volunteer

A front page story in last weeks Quad-City Times featured Chad Pregracke, the founder of Living Lands and Waters, requesting help cleaning up the Cedar River in and around Cedar Rapids. My wife, Linda, signed us up as volunteers. We spent the day there Sunday and we were shocked.

Cedar Rapids has suffered a terrible blow. We really didn’t have any idea the destruction was so widespread and severe. A Cedar Rapids fire captain told me there were more than 1,200 blocks submerged in the water. Emergency assistance people I talked to, including Chad Pregracke, told me it was just like the damage they saw in post-Katrina

New Orleans.

Living Lands and Waters is focused on cleaning up the Cedar River. The debris that ended up in the river as Cedar Rapids homes and business disintegrated is profound.

Chad and his crew were really great to work for, and I promised him I’d make everyone in the Quad-Cities aware of the difficult situation in Cedar Rapids and extend his invitation to you all to take a day and volunteer to help Cedar Rapids and our rivers.

It is truly the kind of job that goes better and more quickly when you have many hands. You may want to encourage a church group or other organization your involved with to pitch in. It’s a good cause.