Flood, Delaware
- When
- July 23, 10:30 AM CST to July 25, 9:15 AM CST
- Where
- Delaware County, 7.75 mi W of Backbone State Park to 6.08 mi SSE of Buck Creek
- Cause
- Heavy Rain
- Property damage
- $25 million
- Crop damage
- $1.0 million
- Reported by
- River/Stream Gage
- Coordinates
- 42.600, -91.700
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.
County conservationists estimated that about 2000 acres of crops and another 2000 acres of pasture were covered by the flooded Maquoketa River, their yields almost entirely lost.
Numerous properties were damaged along the river, including about 500 homes bordering Lake Delhi. Four to five feet of water filled some homes and businesses, including the Lake Delhi marina office.
On Saturday July 24th the Lake Delhi dam failed, allowing the water to drain rapidly from the lake and flood waters to recede from the Lake Delhi properties. Please see the Storm Data entry for the Delaware County flash flood on 7/24 for a description of the Lake Delhi dam failure and its direct impacts.