Gazette Daily News Briefing, August 15 and August 16
This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette digital news desk and I’m here with your update for the weekend of August 15th and August 16th.
After some potential storms that should clear out early Saturday morning, your weekend weather looks cooler and calmer than it has been this week. According to the National Weather Service, there will be a high of 79 degrees in the Cedar Rapids area Saturday with mostly cloudy skies. Sunday will see the return of sun and heat, with clear skies and a high of 87 degrees.
Friday was another day of heat, difficulty, and no electricity for most of the residents of Linn County in the wake of Monday’s storm. About 65 percent of Linn County residents were still out of power Friday afternoon as utility crews looked to work to repair the worst storm damage they say they’ve ever seen.
Alliant Energy senior vice president Terry Kouba said in a Friday news release a “significant number of customers” will have power by the end of the day Tuesday, if not sooner. As of Friday night, about 65,000 Alliant customers in Linn County still do not have power.
Linn County Rural Electric Cooperative expects “a substantial increase in power restoration” over the weekend and into Monday. About 8,000 Linn County REC customers in the county did not have power and another 1,700 of their customers in Johnson County were also cut off.
With the lack of both power and Internet, as well as damage to several district buildings, the Cedar Rapids School District is seeking permission from Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds to begin its school year online. Cedar Rapids Superintendent Noreen Bush told the governor during a visit surveying the damage Friday that the district is already prepare for online schooling due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Bush said there could be the potential for elementary school students to go back sooner, as their buildings were, on the whole, less damaged.
After a sweep of the city by Cedar Rapids firefighters, 1,089 housing units in the city have been placarded as being too damaged to occupy. Fire Chief Greg Smith said firefighters did an initial sweep of the city to determine whether roofs, ceilings, walls or floors were in danger of collapse and posed a significant risk to those living there, especially if a fire breaks out.
Another 320 properties have sustained minor non-structural damage and 217 had cosmetic damage, according to public safety spokesman Greg Buelow.
Iowa Agriculture Secretary Mike Naig Friday that Monday’s storm greatly impacted roughly 3.57 million acres of corn and 2.5 million acres of soybeans. Naig noted that although much of this cropland is insured, this is a particularly hard hitting blow for farmers that have already been struggling to recover from a trade dispute with China and the COVID-19 pandemic as harvest time is rapidly approaching.
Deaths from COVID-19 reached 972 by the end of the day Friday, with positive cases increasing every day of the week.
We are keeping a running list of resources for those who either want to help those affected by the storm or those who need help on thegazette.com.
If you are listening to this, you made it through one big struggle of a week. If you can manage it, treat yourself to whatever relief you can find this weekend. We’ll continue recovering together, one day at a time.
