COLUMBUS JUNCTION, Iowa — The people of Columbus Junction will not soon forget about the floodwaters that ravaged their business district.

Humanities Iowa is making sure of it.

The organization, an affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities, has granted $1,910 to that city to assess the impact of the flood on the business community. Nitza Lopez Castillo, the city’s assistant marketing director, said the floodwaters wiped out about half of the city’s commercial strip.

“For tomorrow’s kids and grandkids, we should have this here in town for history purposes,” she said of the assessment, which will include a Power Point presentation, photographs, oral histories and more. “Columbus Junction has books in the library with the city’s history through the years, and this is something to add.”

The assessment will be an ethnography, which is an anthropologist’s term for a report on a community and its people. Mike Chibnik, a University of Iowa anthropology professor, will oversee a group of student interns who will interview business owners and gather information.

The money from the grant will allow students to be reimbursed for mileage to and from Columbus Junction, as well as help pay for clerical fees for tasks such as reformatting photographs and compiling presentations.

Chris Rossi, director of Humanities Iowa, said the request for funds fit well with Humanities Iowa’s mission of promoting understanding and appreciation of the people, communities, culture and stories of importance to Iowa and the nation. “It’s meritorious and certainly something that generations to come will be talking about as they look back on this epic and tragic event.”

Castillo said the community had “never seen anything to this extent, not even in (the floods of) 1993. I pretty much had my camera attached to me at the hip through this whole process.”

Among the 15 to 20 damaged businesses was the town’s largest grocery store, Economart. Only one of the businesses in the affected area — a veterinary clinic — has managed to reopen in its original building.

Columbus Junction, population 2,000, suffered record flooding in late June, where it sits downstream from the confluence of the Iowa and Cedars rivers. The medical center, pharmacy, day care, senior center, a hotel and a dozen other businesses were under about 10 feet of water after a levee broke.

Castillo said the community took a heavy blow when the levee ruptured. “We fought so hard in the days prior to that. People worked around the clock for days and days filling sandbags.

“It was disappointing, but it proved to us how strong this community is. Our efforts were not in vain,” she said.

Aaron Robbins, manager of the Economart, said what struck him about the flood was “the extremeness of it. It was way more than what we thought.”

Robbins said his former customers are looking forward to the business reopening, which could take another 60 days. “They just can’t wait for us to get back. It’s a big inconvenience to drive, especially with gas prices at $4 per gallon.”

Reporter contact information

David Heitz: 563-383-2202 or dheitz@qctimes.com.