Bob Collins
There’s certainly a Minnesota flavor to flood recovery efforts in Cedar Rapids.
According to a news release today from the Hennepin County sheriff and the Minneapolis Police Department:
In the early evening of Saturday June 14th Chief Greg Graham of the Cedar Rapids Police Department placed a personal call to Chief Dolan asking for whatever law enforcement resources the City could provide. Chief Dolan immediately committed one Lieutenant, two Sergeants and six officers to respond. Sheriff Stanek also committed an initial 10 deputies and supervisors. By 1 a.m. Sunday MPD Deputy Chief of Patrol Rob Allen was in Cedar Rapids coordinating our response. By 12 p.m. Sunday the Minneapolis and Hennepin County Sheriff’s initial response teams were at work in Cedar Rapids. The officers and deputies are working in areas of Cedar Rapids where the flood waters are receding to allow residents to return to their homes on a limited basis. Our personnel are working to prevent theft and other crimes in those areas.
The Minneapolis police chief also authorized another 20 officers and Stanek, the sheriff, authorized another 10 deputies. Since the Cedar Rapids police department communications center is underwater, the locals (“our” locals) are sending down a mobile command post, too.
Meanwhile, according to the Twin Cities Red Cross, 11 area volunteers have been dispatched to assist in flood efforts in the Upper Midwest.
