CEDAR FALLS - The 2008 Cedar River flood is long gone, but hardly forgotten.

For the city of Cedar Falls, reminders come in daily - phone calls from recovering victims, federal funding requests and a long to-do list of recovery and regulation issues.

The developmental services department at City Hall encompasses engineering, housing, building permits, inspections and planning and zoning. Personnel in each of those areas have dealt with mounds of paperwork and a variety of flood problems since June.

"We realize there's a lot more work to do. With the resources we have, we've accomplished quite a bit," said Ron Gaines, director of developmental services.

Bruce Sorensen lives with reminders of the flood in his office every day. The public works director's window grants a view of the branch of Dry Run Creek where water spilled from the banks and swamped the complex during peak flooding last June.

What was once carpet beneath Sorensen's feet is now vinyl. The wooden window casings have not been replaced.

One window was high enough to avoid floodwaters.

The new Public Works building off of Bluff Street was completed in the summer of 2007. When the flood came last June, it filled the building with 5 1/2 feet of water. It also left the city scrambling to battle the flood throughout the city while also trying to save its own vehicles, equipment and records at the complex.

The city lost two trucks at the complex, one has been replaced and the other will be.

Sorensen called the flood "devastating" for the Public Works Department, but much has been accomplished since then.

"The worst part was we lost most of our records," Sorensen said.

Since the floods, the city began exploring relocating the public works facility out of harms way. The most recent plan would put the facility in the industrial park.

"This facility would convert to almost all recycling then," Sorensen said of the existing complex.

But such a plan is far from becoming a reality. Sorensen said preliminary estimates show costs at about $8 million. The city will seek outside funding, likely through federal sources, to make that happen.

Other options would keep the complex where it is but protect it from floods. That could include blocking off Dry Run Creek at 12th Street so it can't back up to the complex.

One major problem in last year's record flood was that much of North Cedar became an island as roads leading out in all directions were overcome by flood waters. Some damage was done to Lone Tree and Dunkerton roads, including to a portion of Dunkerton Road that was resurfaced a few months before. Immediate repairs were done, and a new resurfacing was done on the section of Dunkerton Road last fall.

Center Street, the main north-south road through North Cedar, was flooded and undermined. It didn't reopen until days after the flood, and even then it needed more repairs and base work. This summer the base will be rebuilt and shoulders stabilized.

The city has now printed a brochure detailing what people need to know for floods. It deals with preparing for a flood and recovering after the water comes down.

Last week the city's Currents magazine arrived in residents' mailboxes. A portion of the new brochure was printed inside.

The brochure will be distributed at restaurants and gas stations in the flood-prone parts of the city. If a major flood occurs and police and firefighters again go door-to-door to warn residents, they will go armed with the brochures.

"I think some of the comments we heard with some of the citizens out there, when someone told them a projected number, a lot of them couldn't comprehend where that water would be," Gaines said.

The brochure includes a map detailing 100- and 500-year flood plains. New maps have been submitted to become the official Federal Emergency Management Agency maps, but have not yet been approved. Last month, the council approved a resolution that notes the city will use the more restrictive of the two sets of maps.

Levee concerns

The big success story of the 2008 flood was that the levee held, due in part to the efforts of thousands of volunteers sandbagging. If those efforts had gone for naught, downtown would have taken on several feet of water, the wastewater system would have been compromised and widespread sewer backups would have occurred.

During the height of flood, several problem spots cropped up, mostly at gaps in the permanent earthen and concrete levees. City is working to eliminate those gaps.

The section of levee behind the former Broom Factory Restaurant will be a high priority.

"You have to get it planned, designed and approved to the (Army) Corps of Engineers, so it can be a lengthy process," Gaines said.

Cedar Falls Utilities, which took on six to nine feet of water in its main buildings, is also looking at raising its levee and closing off the open area on Utility Parkway. The levee work is still in the design phase. The city is also exploring adding to the CFU levee to protect along Dry Run Creek south to 18th Street.

The Utility Parkway entry to Washington Park will be sealed. After levee improvements are completed, Gaines expects the only gaps in the levee will be at the Ninth Street entrance to Washington Park and openings for the recreational trail near Peter Melendy Park downtown.

The Army Corps of Engineers typically inspects the city's levee system every two years. Gaines said the city will do additional inspections in the intervening times.

"We want to make sure that holds up well. The last thing we want to see is an animal getting in and burrowing there and giving a place for water to get in," Gaines said.

Cedar Falls Utilities suffered an estimated $20 million in damages. Its power generating facilities took on water and were down for months. Streeter Station No. 7, the more commonly used generator, was repaired and ready to operate in early March, but Streeter Station No. 6 is still not ready.

An electric substation near CFU was also damaged and has been offline since the flood. CFU spokesperson Betty Zeman said the repair work is nearly done.

"When you have a substation out of service, the rest of the substations take on more load and are less reliable than we like," she said.

Despite all the problems CFU has had to overcome, Zeman said, CFU does not expect to raise rates to pay for flood expenses. She said insurance and federal reimbursements have covered nearly all the costs.

Planning for the future

Over the past several months, a citizen group outlined a vision for the future of flood-prone northern Cedar Falls. The Board of Adjustment has allowed many properties in the floodway to be rebuilt. A broader floodplain ordinance is in the process of being amended. It will dictate what should be allowed or not allowed as far as construction in the flood plain and floodway.

The City Council has developed a new emergency operations plan that spells out in detail preparations for and reactions to major disasters such as floods. Among the recommendations are putting out an earlier call to the National Guard, refining media relations, identifying in advance businesses that can help provide materials and putting a checkpoint policy in place for access to affected areas.

"I think we realize there's a lot to do. The difficult thing is staying on task and get our flood recovery done and our other city business and capital project work done as well," Gaines said.

Contact Jon Ericson at (319) 291-1461 or jonathan.ericson@wcfcourier.com.