Residents and businesses fearing the worst braced for the past week or longer for a deluge of water. While the Des Moines River rose at most points throughout the city, the Birdland area on the north side was the first area of concern.

Julie Champlin said that those who were around her neighborhood for the flood of 1993 had one thought as they watched the water creeping up nearer to them last week.

"We're smart enough to tell people to leave and to get real nervous," said Champlin from her temporary Union Park perch, which looked west over a totally flooded Birdland Park and Saylor Road.

Champlin, who lives two blocks north of a temporary earthen dam across Saylor Road, said she and her Holcomb Avenue neighbors had water up to their rooftops in 1993.

Tim Sirianni Jr. lives a block south of Champlin on Watson Avenue. He said that area residents have a lot longer to prepare for the flooding this time than last, but that only counts for so much.

"There isn't much you can do when it rains like this," he said. "You can really just ask God to make it stop."

Fellow Watson Avenue resident Danny Camarillo told stories of using his small boat in 1993 to rescue people from their rooftops and how he lost everything he owned in the flood.

"If it floods again, we aren't coming back," Camarillo said. "They said it was a 100-year flood (in 1993). Well, we've still got 85 years to go."

Back up on the corner of Holcomb Avenue and Saylor Road, Darryl Allen was packing up a rented U-Haul with clothing, important papers and whatever else he wanted for a quick getaway. The rest would be a gamble.

"I can't afford to lose what I'm going to lose if it floods, but I'm getting out with my life," he said.

Bob Ziebell came in from Slater to help his father flood-proof his belongings on Watson Avenue. He said that despite the levy improvements made after 1993, nothing could be certain about the rising water this time.

"The only true test is letting it happen," Ziebell said.

Kevin Risius awoke Thursday morning to find 3feet of water in his home on Guthrie Avenue west of Saylor Road in the Union Park neighborhood. Later in the morning, city crews hauled in loads of sand to reinforce a temporary levee, and 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.

"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."

State Rep. Wayne Ford, who represents the north-side neighborhood, said on Thursday there weren't enough sandbags to protect homes and businesses in the area.

People in the area "got hit pretty hard last time, and we thought they would get a little bit more attention now," Ford said.

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.

Businesses affected

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."

As sandbagging continued in the attempt to protect the levee late last week, neighboring businesses also rushed to find more protection.

Kevin Bauer, who owns Glass Professionals at 700 New York Ave., took in 30 inches of water at his business in 1993. By Thursday afternoon, when the National Guard was rushing to reinforce the levee to his west amid concerns about water seeping through, Bauer stood near a concrete barricade and sandbag wall topping 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.

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 and Union parks 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.

By Friday, as the levee was holding back water nearly to its brim, additional calls for help went out and heavy equipment was brought in to dump sandbags by the load onto spots in the levee that had reached the limit.