MUSCATINE, Iowa — Muscatine’s become more of a tourist attraction lately, but not for the reason most people would have preferred.

A steady stream of visitors has been flowing downtown, to the water’s edge, as the Mississippi River has risen the past several days.

And while most visitors walked to the water from the downtown side, at least one decided to swim up from the river. Monday morning, a beaver even came by to see what was going on.

Kelly Stroda of Muscatine said she came down to check out the river and saw that a Fox News crew out of Chicago was spotlighting Muscatine.

“I was just down here looking around,” said Stroda, 50. “And I saw a beaver swimming right over there.” She pointed to an area of water at the end of Iowa Avenue. “I showed it to the Fox News people and they started filming it.”

Stroda, a Union laborer for Local 309 in Rock Island, said the floods, which come on the heels of three years of major hurricanes and tornados, prompt her to keep looking at the skies.

“This seems like a Biblical thing to me,” she said. “Hurricanes, floods, fires. I hope it’s not the atomic bomb next.” 

Stroda was among a steady stream of people who made their way to the edge of the floodwaters throughout the day Monday to check on the rising river.

Richard Hutchison and his four children, Dayton, Denver, Alyson and Ashley, of Muscatine, rode down on bikes. Hutchison, 29, who is on vacation from his job as a welder for Union Tank, said his family wanted to see what was going on.

“It’s the first time I’ve ever seen it this high,” said Hutchison, who moved to the area in 2000.

Robert Storr’s daughter, Rebecca Hardee, lives in Georgia, so he came to the river to take pictures to send to her.

He said Hardee is familiar with the riverfront, after growing up in Illinois City.

“She won’t believe it,” said Storr, 56, a retiree of Heinz in Muscatine.

Tammy McGreer, 50, and her daughter Samantha, 15, both of Illinois City, ended up videotaping the river Monday after they came to  First National Bank on Second Street in downtown Muscatine. They decided to walk out to the parking lot in back and see how high the river was.

“It was amazing to see the water so close to the parking lot,” said Tammy, who had worked at First National Bank until April of this year.

Four days before, Tammy and her husband, Brian, had been in downtown Muscatine to celebrate their wedding anniversary, and the water and she said the water hadn’t come past the harbor.

Belinda Bean, an accountant at First National Bank, thought there may not be enough parking for employees when she arrived at work at  9 a.m.

“There were so many people down here to see the flood,” said Bean, 37.

When she got off work, Bean took a good look at the water herself and got a  chuckle.

 She noticed that the American Indian sculpture located near the city’s Riverview Center, was half submerged and wearing an orange life jacket.

Reporter contact information

Cynthia Beaudette 563-262-0527

cynthia.beaudette@muscatinejournal.com