Event narrative (NOAA)
After about 10 inches of rain fell in the upper Maquoketa River basin, the river surged to record stage levels. ||The initial impact off the surging river levels was seen in Manchester, where portions of the business district as well as numerous homes were affected by flood waters. With water reaching near the rooftops of at least one business, West Main Street was particularly hard-hit, with 2 fast food restaurants, a car dealership, a pharmacy, and several other businesses succombing to the flood waters. Numerous basements filled with water, and there were reports of several basement walls that had collapsed. One man experienced a near-miss when a sinkhole developed in a parking lot and the skidloader he was driving collapsed into the raging Maquoketa River beneath the parking lot. ||
Other notable flood events in Iowa
Source: NOAA/NCEI Storm Events Database. Deaths and injuries are those NOAA classifies as direct. Damage is the reporting office's estimate at the time and is not inflation-adjusted. This is a catalogue record, not a forecast.