The Wall Street Journal | By: Shayndi Raice | September 18, 2017:

Cedar Rapids, Iowa, with 10 square miles under water, executed a 25-year master plan in five years.

This once-bustling city was facing all the challenges of former manufacturing hubs across the country when it wrote a 25-year plan to revive its business and residential life.

The plans didn’t go very far, though—until the Cedar River flooded in 2008. Judged at the time to be one of the worst natural disasters in U.S. history, the flood left 10 square miles, or 14% of Cedar Rapids including City Hall and much of downtown, underwater.

In the years since, the city has worked with businesses, charitable foundations and nearly $1 billion in federal, state and local funds to transform itself, trading in dilapidated buildings and meatpacking plants for new office towers, loft-style condos, trendy coffee shops and bike lanes.

“Many, many people in our community will say they would not wish a flood like that on anyone, but it’s the best thing that happened to us,” said Chuck Peters, chairman of Folience, an employee-owned holding company that owns the local newspaper, The Gazette.

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Image Credit:
By (photography: Don Becker, USGS) ([1] from [2]) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons