Railroad bridge in downtown Waterloo (IA) collapses; Cedar Falls orders more evacuations

Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier ^ | 6/10/2008 | Jim Offner

[Free Vulcan]

WATERLOO — One-half of the Sixth Street railroad bridge over the Cedar River in downtown Waterloo has washed away in the flood waters.

Half the bridge remains.

We will provide more details as they become available.

Also, the city of Cedar Falls has now expanded its area of evacuation.

[Free Vulcan]

A good portion of the state is experiencing flooding after 9 in. of rain in parts of the state.

My sister's husband works for the natural gas company and said it's bad everywhere he's been.

[Keith in Iowa]

Mason City, IA is still without city water....may have the system up tomorrow with water that can be used for flushing toilets...won’t have potable water until Friday at the earliest.

[Dilbert San Diego]

God, let’s hope and pray the worst is over.

I saw on TV, I think somewhere in Wisconsin, a house collapsed into a swollen creek or river. The riverbank had eroded away; the soil underneath the house was gone. So the house just gave way. Such a terrible disaster.

[Keith in Iowa]

That was a man-made lake in the Wis. Dells area - one side of the lake was a built-up roadway that disintegrated and the lake ran out to the nearby Wisconsin River...

[Eric in the Ozarks]

That house was in the Dells, on a little man-made lake, near the Wisconsin River. The lake came up and undermined the house, then broke through to the river and is now, essentially, gone.
Des Moines is bracing for a blast of water over the Saylorville Lake spillway. Water is up to the bottom of downtown bridges.

[reagan_fanatic]

There’s been some frightening things going on here in the Midwest lately.

[theDentist]

I’m hoping the bridge was closed to traffic prior to the failure/collapse.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

I was trying to remember the lake; It is (or was) Lake Delton in the Wisconsin Dells.

[Clint N. Suhks]

PING!

[JenB]

It’s a railroad bridge and yes, it was clear of trains - the railroads take these things seriously.

Cedar Rapids may lose a railroad bridge too. The water’s going to come up over it and it may come off its piles.

[theDentist]

I thought it was a bridge for autos/traffic. And it wouldn’t be the first time a car or pedestrian went around a “Closed sign” to get across and to his business, only to be washed away.

[JenB]

It’s a railroad bridge, tracks owned by UP, leased by the Iowa Railroad. I work for a company that specializes in railroad technology, in Cedar Rapids IA. The bridge was quite a topic of conversation this morning, when we could spare the time from debating when CR will flood.