Iowa Lake Vanishes in Hours

One day, Lake Delhi was filled with summer revelers swimming and tubing. The next, it was a mere fraction of what it used to be, after a privately owned dam that had created the Iowa lake in the 1920s broke down from heavy rain, sending its water cascading away. Witnesses estimate that the lake receded at a pace of six inches per minute, almost emptying overnight. “It just makes your jaw drop,” said one local resident. “The lake’s gone.” Denizens are hoping to seek aid from FEMA to rebuild the dam and deal with flooding costs, though a majority of the properties around the nine-mile-long lake are vacation homes, which don’t always qualify for rebuilding funds. Without the dam, whose return is uncertain, Iowans are robbed not only of a lake that has been providing summer entertainment for almost a century, but also a significant source of property values.