BURLINGTON, Iowa - Hundreds of Hesco barriers were put in place and filled with tons of sand to prepare for flooding of the Mississippi River.
"It's gonna crest at 19.5 (feet) so we're going around this building here, which is the Memorial Auditorium and we're going around the sewage treatment lift station," said Greg Johnson, public works.
The Port of Burlington sits in the area where the city is expecting to see water, they've already had to move some of their upcoming events.
"On Saturday morning, we were gonna have the American Queen was supposed to dock and they did cancel that, Saturday evening we were supposed to have our October fest here and it is now going to be held at community field," said Julie Meloan Bell, manager, Port of Burlington Welcome Center.
They don't expect to see any water in their building but there's a plan in place if the river rises over 22 feet.
"We remove all the brochures, the bikes that we rent, we have to make sure everything is up, away from the floor," said Bell.
For this city they said they're used to having to deal with flooding.
“When you live on the river, you don't mess with the mighty Mississippi," said Bell.
The city expects to be putting up barriers for the next 3 days until the river crests on Saturday.
The city received a grant to put up a flood wall, that is still in the planning stages and expected to be installed in Spring of 2017.