Control Program Manager Rob Davis News Today

The city of Cedar Rapids has opened the newly relocated and reconfigured skatepark after building a detention basin as part of the permanent flood control system. The facility is now entirely made of concrete and features 28 obstacles -- a variety of quarterpipes, wedges, ledges and more.

CEDAR RAPIDS — Flood threats are too familiar to Al Pierson, owner of a 92-year-old business in the Time Check neighborhood. He recalls six times that Pierson’s Flower Shop and Greenhouses, 1800 Ellis Blvd. NW, has faced rising waters from the Cedar River. He’s had to evacuate before, but the 2008 flood marked the first time floodwater actually came on the property. “It isn’t just the people that get wet,” said Pierson, whose business closed for five months after the flood. “It’...