Some tenants of a Council Bluffs apartment complex had to find somewhere else to sleep Wednesday night after a nearby creek spilled over its banks.
Three three-person crews are were at the Valley View Estates on Wednesday going door-to-door encouraging, but not requiring, people to leave because of flooding. The rising waters were filling in from Mosquito Creek on the east side of town. The creek flooded over Valley View Drive into the front parking lot of the complex.
There's some concern the water is going to continue to rise and that it won't stop there. Some residents were packing up their vehicles Wednesday and heading out away from the flooding.
"It just kept coming, more and more and more," Terri Brummels told 6 News. "And we knew that it was getting serious."
Council Bluffs Fire crews began knocking on doors at the apartment complex around 7:00 Wednesday night, encouraging residents to get out in case the torrential waters might keep them from doing so later.
Evacuating due to rising water levels at Mosquito Creek is something residents there have never thought they would have to do.
Deena Greelis telling 6 News, "My son called and said, 'They're closing the road,' and I thought that's kind of crazy, and I thought he was exaggerating. The water just keeps rising and getting worse."
Fire officials said most of the residents heeded the department's advice and left for the night, but a lot of them emptied their units and left nothing behind, unsure when — or if — they will be able to return. "Mother Nature is in charge," Brummels said. "So we just have to wait and see if we can come home tomorrow."
The Red Cross has opened a shelter for displaced residents at Salem United Methodist Church off of Somerset Avenue.