Hundreds ordered to flee homes in Iowa City

IOWA CITY, Iowa - A week's work of frantic sandbagging by students, professors and the National Guard couldn't spare this bucolic college town from the surging Iowa River, which has swamped more than a dozen campus buildings and forced the evacuation Sunday of hundreds of nearby homes.

The swollen river, which bisects this city of about 60,000 residents, was topping out at about 31.5 feet — a foot and a half below earlier predictions. But it still posed a lingering threat, and wasn't expected to begin receding until Monday night.

"I'm focused on what we can save," University of Iowa President Sally Mason said as she toured her stricken campus. "We'll deal with this when we get past the crisis. We're not past the crisis yet."

The university said 16 buildings had been flooded, including one designed by acclaimed architect Frank O. Gehry, and said others were at risk.

Iowa City Mayor Regenia Bailey said 500 to 600 homes were ordered to evacuate and hundreds of others were under a voluntary evacuation order through the morning. The city had no estimate of the number of homes that had actually flooded.

Bailey said homeowners will not be allowed back until the city determines it's safe.

Gov. Chet Culver said it was "a little bit of good news" that the river had crested, but cautioned that the situation was still precarious.

"Just because a river crests does not mean it's not a serious situation," he said. "You're still talking about a very, very dangerous public safety threat."

Elsewhere, state officials girded for serious flooding threats in Burlington and southeast Iowa including Fort Madison and Keokuk. Officials said 500 National Guard troops had already been sent to Burlington, a Mississippi River town of about 27,000, and some people were being evacuated.

Culver said the southeastern part of the state was likely to "see major and serious flooding on every part of the southeastern border of our state from New Boston and down."

In Cedar Rapids — where flooding had forced the evacuation of about 24,000 people from their homes — residents waited hours to get their first up-close look since flooding hammered most of the city earlier this week.

Some grew angry after long waits to pass through checkpoints. Cedar Rapids officials also were inspecting homes for possible electrical and structural hazards.

"It's stupid," said Vince Fiala, who said he waited for hours before police allowed him to walk five blocks to his house. "People are down on their knees and they're kicking them in the teeth."

在爱荷华州数百居民被要求撤离家园

爱荷华市的学生教授和国民警卫队一周都忙于堆砌沙袋但是还是不能阻止爱荷华河对这所大学的伤害，爱荷华河已经淹没了超过12所大学的建筑，数百名居民被迫在周日离开他们的家。

急剧膨胀的河把这个城市一分为二，这个城市大约有6万人居住。水位最高点已达31.5英尺，还有1.5英尺就会达到历史最高水位，但是水位还是迟迟没有退去，不排除在周一晚上水位会下降。

爱荷华大学校长Sally Mason在参观了她的受灾的校区时说：我会一直关注我们可以处理和度过这个危机关头，这个我们还没有遇到的危急关头。

爱荷华大学说有16所建筑物被淹，由著名建筑师弗兰克盖瑞澳设计的建筑，并说其他人处于危险之中。

Bailey说私房主会在城市确定安全之后返回。

州长culver说，对于这条河这是一个不坏的消息，但是情况还是岌岌可危的。

他说水位高并不意味这它不是一个严重的情况，你仍然谈论一个非常非常威胁公众安全的危险。

另一方面伯灵顿和爱荷华的东南部包括麦迪逊堡和基奥卡克遭受严重的水灾危险。政府说已经派了一队500人的国民警卫队前往伯灵顿。在密西西比河沿岸住着大约2万7千人，一些人已经撤离。

culver说东南部可能每个东南边界的地方都会遭受严重的水灾，

在Cedar Rapids，水灾让2万4千人离开他们的家园，这周早些时候他们首次密切关注水灾发生的城市。

由于长期等待通过检查站人们开始变得暴躁。Cedar Rapids官员检查家中的电器和房屋结构是否有危险。

VinceFiala在等了几个小时后才被允许进入他们自己的房子，说太愚蠢了，人们都对他们恨得咬牙切齿。

【Translate by nicola】