Flood — Jones, Iowa

2010-07-23 to 2010-07-25 · near Monticello, Jones, Iowa

Event narrative

Along the Maquoketa River, about 50 homes and 20 businesses in Monticello were flooded due to record flooding. A printing company was flooded for the second time in 11 months, this time even worse than the last. Even with advance preparations, the company sustained losses estimated at $850,000. Similarly, a building company sustained $200,000 after 4 feet of water inundated their facilities. The local paper reported that the CEO of the company knew there was a possibility of flooding, but not 4 feet of water.

The county fairgrounds were also heavily impacted by the floods, putting a damper on the ongoing fair events that typically see more than 250,000 visitors. East of Monticello, the historic Corbett's Mill bridge washed away in the record flood and still had not been found several days after the river crested.

Although the Lake Delhi dam failure was upstream of Monticello (and other flooded Jones County communities), the bulk of the flood damage can be attributed to the record flooding of the river itself rather than the dam failure because of the relatively slow progression of the breach and the timing of the flood crest.

Wider weather episode

Heavy rains during the fourth week of July caused both major rivers running through Jones County to crest well above flood stage.

Although not guaged in Jones County, the Maquoketa River reached record levels both upstream in Manchester and downstream in Maquoketa. Monticello experienced significant and unprecedented impacts as the crest made its way through the area.

Just a couple of days later, the Wapsipinicon River at Anamosa rose above the moderate flood stage level of 15.5 feet on July 25 around 210 am CDT. It crested in major flood around 23.6 feet around 7 pm CDT July 26, second only to the flood of 2008. It fell below the moderate flood stage level around 145 pm CDT July 29.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (42.3037, -91.2167)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 251692. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.