Iowa City Plans Benefits, Community Meeting

Iowa City Plans Benefits, Community Meeting

With Iowa City flood waters slowly receding, relief efforts are turning to fundraising and planning.

Local musicians are hosting a benefit concert Thursday night at the Mill restaurant in downtown Iowa City. Eight local acts, headlined by Public Property and David Zollo, will play starting at 7:30. Admission is free, to encourage those who've been personally hit by the flood to attend, but donations to the United Way of Johnson County's 2008 Flood Relief Fund are strongly encouraged.

The weekend's Pride Fest and parade have been canceled, but on Friday the Pride Committee is hosting a flood fundraiser from 6 to 9 p.m. on the second floor patio of the Iowa City Sheraton Inn. Music will be adjacent, as the Friday Night Concert Series resumes after a one week hiatus.

On Saturday, residents of the flooded Normandy Drive neighborhood are invited to a 3 p.m. community meeting at the Iowa City Public Library. City staff, the City Council, FEMA, ad other representatived will be present. As of Wednesday, the neighborhood remained under six to seven feet of water, and officials could not adequately assess damage or predict how long it would take for residents to return home.

Classes will resume Monday at the University of Iowa, though plans have not yet been made for relocating classes from the 20 buildings, mostly on the fine arts campus, that were flooded.