City officials have ordered a voluntary evacuation of about 220 homes and 20 to 30 businesses north of downtown, where floodwater has overwhelmed a levee that holds the Des Moines River.

The evacuated area is bordered by: Sheridan Avenue on the north, Guthrie Avenue on the south, Second Avenue on the west, Saylor Road on the east.

Water will top the levee in the Birdland Park area likely by Saturday, Public Works Director Bill Stowe said today.

Stowe said he was still waiting on updated river level projections from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, but that “we believe it will go over the top.

“That’s the low part of the levee,” he said. “The projections actually have us over-topping it.." The corps will add to the levee tonight.

Stowe has remained confident all week long that the city’s levee system would hold.

“Changing conditions reduce my confidence when we’re talking about an evacuation,” he said. “I’m very concerned about the Birdland area.”

National Guard troops finished reinforcing the levee near Grubb Community

Stadium about 5:45 p.m. this evening. Besides adding sandbags to the top of the

levee, truckloads of sand were hauled in throughout the day and packed along

the levee to strengthen its base.

City officials watching the area said there have been no leaks at the levee.

Water that pooled by the levee was groundwater collecting, but its level had

not risen during the day.

Stowe said he believed a mandatory evacuation had been placed on the area.

Police Chief Judy Bradshaw said at a 10 a.m. press conference that the area was under a “precautionary” evacuation and that the situation was not “dire.”

Bradshaw said residents were allowed to stay in the area in 1993 and that there were about eight hold-outs. However, she did not know whether police would allow that to occur again this time.

“That really depletes our resources when we have to be worried about those folks,” she said.

Stowe also said there were other areas of the levee that were starting to show seepage and were being reinforced with sand. Some of those have occurred in the area near Southeast Ninth Street.

“This is just the kind of under-stress levee issue we would expect to see,” he said. The seepages are “not failures.”

Stowe said information would be given to residents as soon as it is available on whether other evacuations would be ordered. Some numbers from the Corps have indicated the water will come very close to the top of the levee, he said.

“That’s what has be very concerned about whether I have enough height in the levee.”

A shelter has been established at Harding Middle School, 203 E. Euclid Ave.

People with transportation needs should go to Union Park.

Authorities emphasized that the evacuation is voluntary and does not represent a "dire" situation.

Police Chief Judy Bradshaw said at a 10 a.m. press conference that the area was under a “precautionary” evacuation and that the situation was not “dire.” Sgt. Vince Valdez said the evacuation still was not mandatory.

Bradshaw said residents will be notified by electronic phone message, police officers on foot, and flier will be left on doors.

"A lot of folks have already taken precautions and moved themselves," she said."These are some vulnerable areas."

Bradshaw said the notice could be in effect until Monday.

Des Moines police are handing out fliers to north-side residents encouraging them to evacuate.

“Based in the most current information we have, we strongly encourage you to evacuate your home due to expected imminent flooding,” the notices say.

The fliers also indicate that residents who leave their homes should call Mid American Energy at (888) 427-5632 to disconnect the gas and electric to the home.

Kevin Risius, who lives on Guthrie Avenue west of Saylor Road in the Union Park neighborhood, said he noticed water leaking through the temporary levee as early as Wednesday afternoon and informed city officials. But it was Thursday morning before extra loads of sand were added to reinforce the area.

Risius woke to find 3.5 feet of water in his basement this morning, and by 10:30 a.m., police were going door to door encouraging residents to evacuate.

“I look for this to wipe my house clear out,” said Risius, who rents his property. “My landlord said if it floods again, he isn’t going to keep it.”

Nearby, Andrew Krantz, 94, owner of Eagle Iron Works, worries that his business will be destroyed by the rising water. He said the 1993 flood loss to the business was $27 million, and he’s not sure he can weather another catastrophe.

His employees remained on the job as of 10:30 a.m. And Krantz had no set evacuation plans though police were informing area residents and businesses of voluntary evacuations.

“I’ve got to do a lot of hard thinking about this,” Krantz said. “I can’t just go rambling off. You can’t do that when you have an operation of this size. It’s heartbreaking but we’ll make it through.”

Rep. Wayne Ford, who represents the north-side neighborhood, said officials have not been responsive enough since the 1993 floods — and help is coming too slowly now. He said there aren’t enough sandbags to protect homes and businesses in the area and he worries about flooding at North High School, directly across Second Avenue from the area being evacuated.

People in the area “got hit pretty hard last time and we thought they would get a little bit more attention now,” Ford said. “I’ve got handicapped people around here who don’t know what’s going on. If we can protect Sec Taylor stadium, we should also be able to protect North High School.”

Ford watched the rising water in the area and talked with Arthur Avenue resident Raymond Messer, who said “everything is going to hell” again.

“The city doesn’t care about this end of town,” Messer said.

Next door, Dave Sutton, superintendent of DeMaranville Installation, said the business could fare better than homeowners. “If the water comes up, we are just going to open up the doors and let it run in and out (through) the building,” he said, “unlike these poor folks who have been here for 40 years. They’ve been pulling up stakes.”

Bradshaw said officials are unsure whether water will top the levee until updated estimates arrive from the U.S. Army Corps.

"The concern is both" water going over the levee and the levee being breached, she said. "Water is water whether it goes over the top, it seeps through or it breaches."

Bradshaw said other areas being considered for evacuations include the Four Mile Creek and Southeast Sixth Street areas.

Businesses scramble to block water

As sandbagging goes on to attempt to protect the levee, neighboring businesses rush to find more protection.

Kevin Bauer, who owns Glass Professionals at 700 New York Ave., is hoping not to repeat the 30 inches of water his business sustained in 1993. On Monday, half his workers started sandbagging. By midday Tuesday, all production stopped in lieu of further sandbagging. By Thursday afternoon, a concrete barricade and sandbag wall topped five feet around the building.

“The more nervous I get and the more I watch TV and see how much rain is falling up north, I say ‘let’s put another layer on fellas,’ ” Bauer said. “However bad you think it’s going to be, it’s worse.”

John Paul, manager of Des Moines Cold Storage at Eighth Street and New York Avenue, the nearest business to Grubb Community Stadium, was thankful for the extra hands -- and heavy equipment that included front-end loaders and at least one crane -- trying to save the areas on the east side of the levee.

“We are thrilled to see the National Guard and what the city is doing,” he said. “This is what you call positive thinking. We are going to make it through this.”

Volunteers were stationed at McHenry Park to fill sandbags for the Guard throughout Thursday afternoon. Gene Schmitt, a city engineer leading the efforts there, said helpers were producing 1,000 to 1,500 sandbags an hour “with nothing but volunteers. They will easily fill the 6,000 sandbags delivered” and Schmitt had called for more sandbags to the area.