ELY - The heavy rain overwhelmed streams and creeks in many parts of Eastern Iowa. And the Linn County community of Ely battled high water early on Thursday.

When it comes to high water problems, sometimes it's just a matter of timing. Hoosier Creeks runs through parts of Ely and in the flood year of 2008 it didn't cause any problems. But early Tursday morning, that creek was nothing but trouble.

Jess and Aime Havlik knew there was a risk living in a 500-year flood plain close to Hoosier Creek. But they took precautions. An engineering firm surveyed the lot for their new home before they built and told them water was unlikely to ever get this high. In 2008, they were prepared for problems.

"We actually sandbagged last year...thinking if it flooded in town it pay happen here...nothing of this magnitude happened," said Aime Havlik, homeowner.

So the Havliks put the sandbags away for good. Then early in the morning...the creek came calling.

"At 5:00 this morning I heard a horrendous crash...gushing water and the basement filled up in about 20 minutes...8 foot," said Havlik.

The family isn't sure if sandbags would have kept the water out of the basement. But if they suspected a flash flood was coming, they would have tried. The high water covered playground equipment at one city park near the creek.

But city leaders say aside from the one home, flash flooding damage was minimal. Of course, if that's your home, that's small comfort.

The Havlik's say they probably lost a furnace, water heater and other things in their unfinished basement. But they did luck out one way.

They had planned to start working on finishing the basement in the next two to three weeks.