A little over eight years ago, Cedar Rapids, Iowa experienced the worst flood in city history. According to the city of Cedar Rapids, the Cedar river crested at 31.12 feet on June 13, 2008 breaking the city’s previous record by over six feet. Homes destroyed, memories drowned, and town full of water and sadness.

Over the weekend of Sept. 24, 2016, the Cedar river brought the daunting memories of 2008 back for the citizens of Cedar Rapids.

Although the river crested at 22 feet Tuesday morning, Sept. 27, 10,000 citizens in the ‘flood zone’ were asked to evacuate. Half of the citizens complied while the others stayed to protect all they possess. A weekend full of fear and panic devastated citizens.

Pleasant Valley students may not experience or feel the effects of the Cedar river flood, but for some the Mississippi comes close enough to literally hit home. Cristina Gunther, senior, reflects, “We usually use the basement to store old items and memorabilia so when the river floods we have to move everything out of the basement and into the garage.” Every few years, after a lot of rain and sometimes even melted snow, the banks of the Mississippi rise above their normal levels. Downtown Bettendorf and Davenport flood, and families go look at benches drowning from the skybridge, but sometimes forget the struggles that families living along the river are dealing with. Emma Gellerstedt says, “We have to put a lot of time into sandbagging in order to keep the water out.”

Often, to keep water out, sandbags are used to block houses in. When water breaks through, flooding occurs. If it doesn’t break through, water meets the sandbags, and houses appear to be on their own little island with the water surrounding the bags. Although, due to the inconvenience, both Gunther and Gellerstedt said, “We have to park our cars elsewhere and take a boat ride to get home.” Luckily, the city provides most of the sand, so citizens aren’t rushing around looking for sandbags.

Flooding is an issue that only mother nature can control, and people living along the river have taken it on as a duty because they love the view and atmosphere too much. Gellerstedt added, “While flooding is a hassle, it has just become something my family has to deal with. We try to make the best of it by fishing and boating.” The river life is not necessarily for everyone, but those who live on it enjoy the water and take flooding as a small portion of something so much bigger.

As Cedar Rapids begins it’s clean up process, be aware and supportive of the peers at school who have gone through the same struggles and fear of losing everything.