Gazette Daily News Briefing, April 25
This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette Digital News Desk, and I’m here with your update for Tuesday, April 25.
Tuesday will start a three-day patch with warmer weather and sunny skies, before rain arrives toward the end of the week. According to the National Weather Service it will be mostly sunny in the Cedar Rapids area, with a high near 57 degrees. On Tuesday night it will be mostly clear, with a low of around 33.
The National Weather Service’s Quad Cities bureau has been tracking precipitation, temperatures and snowpacks for months in anticipation of potential flooding. In its latest briefing, senior service hydrologist Matt Wilson warned of “worst-case scenario” conditions due to above normal temperatures and precipitation and melting northern snowpacks.
Those forecasts are coming to a head in Eastern Iowa, where the bureau is anticipating major and moderate flooding along the Mississippi River from Lansing to Burlington. The river is expected to crest in upstream areas as soon as this weekend. Water levels may surpass some of the top three record crests for locations like Dubuque and Bellevue.
On Monday afternoon, Gov. Kim Reynolds issued a disaster proclamation for Allamakee, Clayton, Clinton, Des Moines, Dubuque, Jackson, Lee, Louisa, Muscatine and Scott counties. The action lets state resources be utilized for response and recovery from flood impacts.
The Johnson County Medical Examiner’s Office has positively identified a body found in the Iowa River on Saturday as Cristian Martinez, a Muscatine man who had been missing for a week, according to a news release from Iowa City.
Martinez, 20, was reported missing on April 15, a week before his body was found, when he didn’t return home after a night out with friends. He was last seen by his friends on in the alley behind Bardot Iowa, a bar at 347 S. Gilbert St., sometime before 1 a.m.
On Saturday, Iowa City police responded shortly after noon to Napoleon Park, 2501 S. Gilbert St., on the east bank of the river. A couple reported the body in the river, which was retrieved by Iowa City Police and Johnson County Deputies. Authorities believed it was Martinez but needed official confirmation.
Harrison Elementary School will be demolished and a new building constructed on the site, the Cedar Rapids school board decided in a 6-1 vote Monday with Dexter Merschbrock opposing.
Under the plan, Madison Elementary School, 1341 Woodside Dr. NW, would close and the attendance zone combined with Harrison Elementary, 1310 11th St. NW. No decision has been made about the future of the Madison Elementary building or land.
The new concept deviates from two recommendations made earlier this month by a volunteer focus group based on an assessment of both schools from Legat Architects, an architecture firm in Iowa City.
Harrison is one of seven schools in Cedar Rapids built before World War II, opening in 1930. In the school there is a mural painted by William Henning, a contemporary of Grant Wood, who is known for his depictions of the rural Midwest. School officials have said that the mural will be preserved.
