Board members were supposed to stay in the University of Iowa student union (this red brick building). But the Iowa River overflowed its banks and flooded the union, causing us to stay in nearby Coralville. My favorite running trail along the river was closed.

I’m at the University of Iowa for the annual board meeting of Quill and Scroll, the International Honor Society for High School Journalists.

Before the meeting started, I had time to run on Edgewater Drive (in Coralville just outside of Iowa City), which is downhill from the hotel where the board members are staying.

As the name of the street conveys, it’s right on the edge of the river, and  the street was under water during the flooding in Iowa last summer.

Every one of the 20 houses on the street is deserted.

Some show owners are trying to salvage. Most houses are for sale.

On the University of Iowa campus, the new journalism building had eight feet of water in its basement.

Quill and Scroll staff took boxes home and worked at home as electricity off. Vanessa Shelton, Q&S executive director, had to wear a mask to go into the building.

Classes started in the journalism building this fall. The campus theatre will be closed until 2010, as water reached Row R in the auditorium.