Cedar Rapids To Receive FEMA Money For Hydroelectric Plant Damaged in Flood

$13.8 million worth of damage done

CEDAR RAPIDS — If a City Hall can be giddy, Cedar Rapids' is.

City officials here have been informed that the Federal Emergency Management Agency headquarters in Washington, D.C., is sticking by its decision to reimburse the city for $13.8-million in flood damages to the city's hydroelectric plant at the base of the 5-in-1 bridge.

"I would say that's good news, wouldn't you?" Mayor Ron Corbett said. "We thought we had all the facts on our side, and we're grateful for FEMA's decision."

The damage award has been a back-and-forth close call for FEMA, in part, because the city's long-underperforming hydroelectric plant, which opened in 1986, was disabled and out of commission at the time it was further damaged by the June 2008 flood.

(H/T Mark Johnson)