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Flood-ravagedpark ‘hedging bets’ for ’94AP photoJim Humberg, assistant park ranger at Ledges State Park, points out the highest watermark left after the floods of July and August 1993. The markings on this tree record eight floods that have inundated the area.Marking time: Old tree records Iowa flood historyLower canyon of Ledges was under 40 feet of waterBy Melanie ChaseAssociated Press writerLuther — some of the state’s richest soil is piled into huge heaps at the bottom of Ledges State Park.“That’s all the topsoil off all those cornfields,” said Art Bettis, a research geologist with the state Department of Natural Resources. That’s the most fertile land in Iowa right now.”Bettis recently toured Ledges State Park with other DNR officials to check damage left by the summer’s record flooding and recommend repairs.Ledges, known for its unusual sandstone walls, is one of the state’s oldest parks. It took a vicious hit during the floods.“It’s bad, real bad,” Bettis said in recommending minimal repairs because of the likelihood of more flooding next spring.“Right now we’re just trying to hedge our bets,” he said.Ledges is along the Des Moines River, in the upper reaches of Saylorville Reservoir. Two creeks — Pea’s and Davis — meander through the park, converge in the lower canyon and flow to the river.The upper level of Ledges, which includes campgrounds and the park office, survived the flood without a scratch. But the lower level, the real showcase, is a disaster. Debris is scattered throughout the canyon, including in the tops of trees. Bridges and roads are buried in mountains of gooey, gray gunk. Trails that wind above the sandstone ledges are gone.“Nobody could have predicted this,” Bettis said.When water started rising in the Des Moines River in the spring, it started backing up in Ledges. For three months, the lower canyon was under 35 to 40 feet of water.“Even during the original plan, they knew Ledges was going to be a flood-prone area,” Bettis said. “But this one started out high in the spring and lasted until August. That is really why as much sediment ended up in the Ledges as it did.”In July, two flash floods occurred within days. Rain water hurled down the creeks and slammed into stagnant backwaters of the Des Moines River. Huge slabs of sandstone crumbled. Trees were uprooted. And tons of black topsoil that once covered farm fields miles away was now at the bottom of the park.“It was just a wall of water coming through the canyon,” said Doyle Adams, bureau chief for state parks with the DNR. “Sand and silt is piled up. The mud is so gooey, it just flowed like lava.”A hundred cadets from the Air Force Academy in Colorado helped clean the park in October, but restoration could take years.“The canyon was one of the drawing cards. It was just a beautiful area,” said Mike Scho-neboom, district supervisor for DNR’s park section.“We’ve spent $1 million on trails over the last 10 years and it was looking really well,” he said. “It was devastating to go down and look at what one evening did. We suffered the brunt of the punishment up here.”Only necessary repairs are planned in the near future.Then there’s the sandstone ledges. Doyle told Bettis he’s concerned about the instability of the ledges this winter.“The sandstone, just because of the nature of it, does retain water. What happens when that sandstone freezes and you get that expansion? I don’t know if we’ll get chunks of rock coming off or what,” he said.But Bettis said he didn’t see a lot of water seeping out of the sandstone, and that is encouraging.“My guess is, we won’t really see any big problems this winter except in these recent slide areas. There’s no soil, no vegetation to hold it,” he said.Bettis isn’t willing to predict what’s in store next spring, but he said there’s no use spending a lot of time and money because of the likelihood of more flooding.But if there’s no flood of ’94, Bettis says scars of ’93 will be around for years.“We’re going to see evidence that this happened for a really long time.”By Melanie ChaseLUTHER — No one knows its age, but the old cottonwood tree has been used as a high-water marker along the Des Moines River since 1957.The tree, in the fork of a road in the lower canyon of Ledges State Park, has eight markers. The latest one says “The Great Flood of 1993.” It’s 35 to 40 feet up the trunk and towers over the others, including the previous high mark left by the Great j Flood of 1984.“This is the granddaddy of them all,” said Doyle Adams, bureau chief for state parks for the Iowa Department of Resources.When the Des Moines River started rising in the spring, water started pouring in the lower canyon of the park. For threemonths, it was buried under 35 to 40 feet of water.Mike Schoneboom, district supervisor for the DNR’s park section, said floodwater from the Des Moines River isn’t unusual in Ledges, but this year it was 2 feet higher than ever before.“The flash floods came down and they hit that slack water with all the debris. It deposited debris, silt, whatever where the slack water was. We never had that before,” Schoneboom said.When the flood waters receded, Ledges was left like so many flood victims — bruised, battered and exhausted.“The mud and silt is piled up and there’s no way we can do anything,” Adams said. “We’ve marked 86 walnut trees we’ll have to take out because they’re going to die anyway.”
Newspaper Details
Cedar Rapids Gazette
Cedar Rapids, Iowa, US
Fri, Dec 03, 1993
Page 130
Full Page
Clipped by
State H.
IA, USA 31 Oct 2024
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