DAVENPORT-- "The dam is broke, the dam is broke, get off the street!" That's what new downtown Davenport business owner Matthew Osborn remembers yelling immediately after he saw the man-made flood levee break.
Second Street and Pershing Avenue, in the heart of downtown, is now transformed into an underwater junkyard, cars, debris, and dumpsters floating down the street.
Osborn saw it break from his new business he scheduled to open on this very day.
"I was standing in the back, and I saw it break. I started seeing the water flush in front of the wall then come this way and the ally flush," remembers Osborn.
The man-made levee broke, releasing the Mighty Mississippi into the downtown streets.
All Eric Fredricks saw was the aftermath, his downtown apartment completely surrounded by waist-deep water.
Emergency crews immediately jumped into evacuation boats, rescuing people stuck in the water, making trip after trip in the 40-degree water.
And once everyone was safe on dry land, evacuation crews went back out, taking the stranded home to gather their belongings. Eric Fredricks only had time to grab a suitcase.
"These are some things for the next couple of days since I won't be able to stay in my home obviously," says Fredricks.
Now all they can do is wait, picking up the floating pieces not knowing what mother nature will throw at them next.
