Flood & Tornado Pictures

The Flood of 1999 was caused in different ways than the Flood of '93. In 1993 the flood was caused by months of constant rain on top of already saturated ground. However in 1999 the flood was caused by a series of severe storms that charged across the state on Sunday, May 16, 1999 which spawned tornadoes in western Iowa and dumped 6" - 8" of rain in other areas. The majority of the rainfall was in Northern Iowa which entirely flooded towns like Littleport, IA. All these areas flash-flooded which caused the major rivers in the area like the Waspipinicon, Maquoketa, and Cedar Rivers to flood even worse. As the flood waters moved downstream, many cities were affected and cutoff by the high water like Dunkerton, Troy Mills, Central City, Anamosa, Independence, and more. The official crest happened on Thursday evening at 16.2 feet, flood stage is 12 feet. In 1993 the river crested at 19.27 feet. Even though the crests were lower than in 1993, some areas were hit harder by the flash floods of 1999.

The Flood of 2004 was caused much like the Flood of 1999. In 2004 the flood was caused by a cold front that became a stationary front over Iowa. It stayed stationary for quite a few days which caused widespread damage from numerous tornadoes as well as a large amount of rain each and every night along with severe thunderstorms. Storms started on May 18th and continued through May 24th. On May 21st a rather large tornado hit the town of Palo doing major damage in its path. Cedar Rapids, IA was hard hit by the same storm that caused the tornado, but there was not an actual touchdown in Cedar Rapids. Linn county received local reports of 4"-6" of rain in one hour. One week later all of the rain that was received during rains each day caused all the major rives into a torrent of water. Manchester, was hit hard by the Maquoketa River. Elkport & Garber were nearly destroyed by the Turkey River. Many other areas also saw flooding along all the major rivers. Pictures were taken at the location of the tornado in Palo and also taken on Wednesday (5/26) & Thursday (5/27) as the Cedar River in Cedar Rapids reached its crest. The official crest happened on Thursday, May 27th, 2004 (noon), at 18.3 feet, flood stage is 12 feet.

Download the National Weather Service Report for this time frame! (PDF)

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