DAVENPORT, Iowa - Nearly two weeks after the temporary flood protection failed near 2nd Street and Pershing Avenue, drivers are reunited with their cars.
"It's a bit shocking because you don't ever think this is going to happen," said Vanessa Torres. Her car was parked while she was at work.
May 10 was the first time she was able to get back to her car and grab her belongings.
Her wheels were still sitting in the river water.
"I came out through the front," she recalled. "I come and I see the water all the way up to 2nd Street and I see the car, and i'm like yeah, its gone."
Inside the car, her belongings are soaked.
There is slime and dirt smudged all over her stuff.
Vanessa picked through her things, saving what she could.
That was the reality for many drivers downtown Davenport on Friday.
As the water recedes, tow truck drivers begin to pull vehicles out of the water and tow them away.
"I mean just popping a hood," said Brandon Huebbe, one of the tow truck drivers. "It's just gross! It's just nasty!"
Stephanie Millage was at work when the barrier failed. Flood water covered her car as well.
In her trunk, a friends glass that was left behind is now filled to the brim with river water.
Dresses that she planned to take to dry cleaning were river-soaked.
For most of the drivers, their insurance companies are now taking over.
The cars are totaled and most of them will be dumped off at auction yards, where their parts will be sold.
However, it's the priceless memories that can be salvaged as Millage pulls her daughter's artwork out of the wet trunk.
"It’s hard to lose all these things but they are really just things. So, you know, throw it away and move on I guess."
