Ames Flood of 2010: Iowa Time Machine August 12, 2010

Iowa Time Machine ⏰: On August 12, 2010, water finally began to recede in Ames after a record crest on the South Skunk River. Three nights of storms from August 8–11 dropped on the order of ten inches of precipitation across central Iowa, turning familiar creeks into walls of water and closing key corridors like Interstate 35 south of Ames.

In Ames, earlier floods in 1975, 1993, and 2008 had already demonstrated the dangers of building near Ioway Creek and the South Skunk River, yet commercial corridors and campus facilities continued to expand in low-lying terrain. By 2010, changing rainfall patterns and saturated soils meant that even familiar storm systems could produce record crests, and the Skunk River basin was primed for another historic event.

From August 8 through the early hours of August 11, local rain gauges around Ames and Story City recorded roughly 9 to 10 inches of rain over about four days, pushing the South Skunk River at Ames to its highest level on record and flooding neighborhoods as far downstream as Colfax. In Ames, torrents from Ioway Creek split the city in half, inundating South Duff Avenue and filling Hilton Coliseum “like a bathtub” as water poured into the arena and surrounding Iowa State University facilities, producing tens of millions of dollars in damage to campus alone.

Transportation routes that stitched central Iowa together failed in rapid succession: U.S. Highway 30 and Interstate 35 near Ames closed under high water, cutting off a major north–south corridor just as emergency crews sought to move staff, patients, and supplies. In the Des Moines metro, storms on the night of August 11 into August 12 pushed Fourmile Creek out of its banks on the east side, forcing hundreds from their homes, shutting off gas and electricity, and leaving images of residents evacuating mobile home parks and apartment complexes that would become emblematic of the disaster. #Iowa #OTD #History #Weather #Flooding