Nearly 100 people pitched in Sunday to fill sandbags as protection against rising river levels caused by a massive ice jam that’s making its way down the Iowa River in Iowa Falls.
Fire Chief Scott Eistentrager said the work began around 3 p.m. Sunday as ice that had broken up upstream piled up in Iowa Falls, lifting water levels over River Road. Water flooded the Scenic City Boat Club and threatened city infrastructure, including wells, a water treatment plant, and a sewer lift station.
The first sandbagging effort was at a well and the Elk Run Water Treatment Plant along River Road, protecting the well and the control panel from water. “They got done at around 7, and not 15 minutes later the ice jam let loose,” said Scott Peden, Iowa Falls’ Water and Wastewater Superintendent.