News : Self-serve sandbag station set up; Vinton city leaders monitoring river level

With the rising river and rainy forecast, some property owners have been stopping by the Vinton Street Department and Vinton City Hall asking when sandbagging will begin. Currently, the crest of the Cedar River at Vinton is forecasted at 16 feet in the afternoon on Wednesday. This is the best information we have now to judge what actions will be taken. This can change rather quickly depending on how much rain we get here or to the north.

A self-serve sandbag center is being set up at the Vinton street garage on 900 block of West 3rd Street.

We do not take any city action until the forecasted level reaches 17.5 feet. The City’s main objective in fighting any flooding will be like it was in 2008—protection of those assets which affect the whole community. That is, the fire station, the electric generation/distribution buildings, the sewer lift stations and the Benton County Law Enforcement Center.

After the 2008 flood, the City of Vinton and Vinton Municipal Electric Utility (VMEU) purchased HESCO barriers and worked together to stockpile sand on the southwest side of the city. Should flooding of the city facilities become apparent, city crews will begin to set the barriers up around the VMEU buildings and the fire station. The barriers will now be used instead of sandbagging, because of the return on labor and time used to set up and fill these barriers compared with the massive effort for sandbags. The main sewer lift station by the river is now protected by a wall and flood barrier.

Again, at this time, we do not anticipate a major river flooding emergency. However, we will keep monitoring the situation and put out the word as conditions warrant. You can check the current and forecasted river levels at the link on the right-hand side of the City of Vinton website at www.vintoniowa.net. We will also be posting notices on Twitter at www.twitter.com/VintonIowa. If you have a Twitter account, you can have these notices sent directly to your mobile device (smartphone or tablet) and have your device set to alert when a new notice from the City is posted.