Floods of People Check out Flooded Davenport

By: Steve Nicoles, Reporter

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By Steve Nicoles

Story Created: Apr 30, 2008 at 5:28 PM CST

Story Updated: May 1, 2008 at 3:31 PM CST

DAVENPORT - A little farther south flood waters on the Mississippi have shut down a casino and forced a baseball team to hit the road. In Davenport the river is flowing over its banks and into some streets. People are flooding the town's skywalk to get a picture-perfect view of the rising tide.

This seems to happen every six or seven years. Old Man River flexes his muscles and floods at least a fourth of the Quad Cities. You know it is bad when River Drive is more river than drive. In times of flooding, people often seek out higher ground. That is exactly what's happening in Davenport. Although this time the ground is so high, people literally walk over the flooded streets below. Steady streams of people pour through the skywalk leading to Davenport's casino. Amy Groenenboom of Bettendorf brought her son. She said, “We came down so Ryan could see what a flood looks like in his town.”

Another Bettendorf resident, Annette Dehaven said, “It's not like freakishly scary or anything, but it's interesting.”

Kids lean against the glass to get a unique bird's eye view of the river washing away the Levee Inn. The adults have one thing in common: a camera in hand. The skywalk gives amateur photographers a chance to take some pictures they wouldn't normally get. Davenport resident Steve Ballard said, “I wanted to compare this year's flood with the one in 2001.”

The skywalk provides a new perspective on flooding. It was not built the last time the water seeped into the streets of downtown Davenport. Locally the walkway is sometimes seen as a bridge to nowhere. But today locals are taking a trip to tower over the river that first got people to town.

The Army Corps of Engineers says the Mississippi River crested at midnight Tuesday night. And it is slowly falling. But, like our forecast, more rain could come to the Quad Cities this weekend.

Email Steve Nicoles at Steve.Nicoles@kcrg.com

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