Iowa braces for flooding with more rain on the way

At the Cedar Valley Montessori School in downtown Cedar Rapids on Friday, about 100 volunteers from area high schools helped move all the school equipment above the ground floor.

Stacy Cataldo, head of the Montessori school, told television station KCRG that many remember how flooding damaged the school in 2008 and don't want that to happen again.

City Clerk Trisca Dix told The Associated Press that the mandatory evacuation in the town of about 1,000 took place Saturday afternoon before the river was expected to crest Sunday night at 24.5 feet.

Many people moved their belongings to the upper levels of their homes and built sandbag barriers before evacuating, he said.

In central Wisconsin, a flood warning was issued for the Yellow River at Babcock until Sunday morning, but the river wasn't causing any major problems, according to National Weather Service meteorologist Rick Mamrosh in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

Fire Chief Mark English asked the curious to stay out of the flooded areas, noting that some heavy equipment used to build earthen dams and erect flood barriers has been hindered by gawkers.