Luther prepared for flood threat

Prompted by the significant amount of snow this past winter, the National Weather Service in La Crosse, Wisc. has issued a heightened flood threat for the Decorah area this spring and summer.

Luther is no stranger to floods. The Upper Iowa’s most recent flood in 2008 caused damage to campus buildings, including the Regents Center, Center for Faith and Life, Union, Norby House and Olson.

Luther has since taken
precautionary measures to prevent a repeat of 2008 With funding from both the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Department of Education, Luther has levelled the dike protecting campus, purchased and stored sandbags and built a floodwall on the north side of the Regents Center.

Director of Facilities Services Rich Tenneson has been heavily involved in the process of securing Luther against future occurrences of high water in Decorah. With the renovations and precautions Luther has taken since the last flood, Tenneson believes Luther is well-prepared.

“The most significant thing we probably did is redoing that dike last fall,” Tenneson said. It’s all a consistent height and if we had a flood of the magnitude we had before there shouldn’t be any damage on campus.”

In the previous flood, Tenneson explained that the water did not come over the dike, but actually flowed through a place in the dike that was lower, which created around a twenty or thirty foot hole for water to come through.

“That’s what created all the problems for Luther,” Tenneson said.

While the College has taken action in order to prevent a future flood, Bob Harri, Director of Campus Safety and Security, is still preparing for the worst. Harri wants to involve a large majority of the offices on campus in the planning.

“We plan on having a table top exercise where we can walk through what we would do if certain things happen,” Harri said.

Harri noted access to mass quantities of food, bottled water, and what to do with students living on campus as issues that will be discussed.

Throughout the spring, Harri says the water level will be closely monitored, as well as the upcoming weather. However, both Harri and Tenneson seem to believe that a flood will not be an issue this spring or summer.

“I know there’s been some talk about a flood threat, but most people don’t think it will be much of an issue this year,” Harri said. “Unless we have an awful lot of rain we will probably be ok, but its something we will certainly be monitoring and keeping track of.”