Swollen Creeks and Rivers

A substantial system of torrential rain on Wednesday, June 10, 2020 prompted the flash flood warning box (above) by the National Weather Service (NWS) in Linn County, Iowa, even before the rains had arrived. The Radarscope image above corresponds to 9:49 am CDT. My position is indicated by the white target icon. The system was tracking to the northeast. Heavier rains to the north were also contributing to the warning for Linn County.

This panorama from the Dry Run Creek footbridge at the border of the cities of Cedar Rapids and Marion from 11:03 am shows water up to the creek's banks but not overflowing.

Looking north from the footbridge at 11:03 pm.

11:12 am. AccuWeather severe weather torrential rainfall alert that included five counties. The alert was to be in effect until 12:45 pm, but was later continued. (Updates to area river statuses continued into Sunday).

11:13 am. Dry Run Creek just east of the footbridge. Swirling debris and brown water can be seen in this image. Water was flowing left-to-right.

11:15 am. High water in the culvert area along Boyson Road. The .7-inch of rain on this day added to the previous day's 1.81 inches here, totaling about 2.5 inches. Despite this, Dry Run Creek did not spill its banks.

Fast forward to the next day, Thursday, June 11, along the Cedar River near the Chain Lakes Bridge, about 1 mile southeast of Palo, Iowa in western Linn County. This west view of high waters and fog on the river was captured from the bridge at 7:59 pm CDT.

Similar shot at 8:01 pm.

8:04 pm. Looking south from the bridge.

8:04 pm. Flooded lowlands surrounding the north end of the bridge.

8:07 pm. Brown swirling water from the same area.

8:08 pm. Looking southwest over the Cedar River from the north end of the bridge.

8:13 pm. Sunset through the trees from the south end of the bridge.

8:13 pm. Chain Lakes Bridge, looking northeast. Creeks and rivers in the area over the past two days were swollen to their banks, but never achieved a true flood status. Nikon D7200 DSLR camera.