I walked into a city municipal garage and saw a sea of people, some shirtless, all sweaty, working in unison in the hot, muggy Iowa summer. It looked like a desperate factory, with some people shoveling dirt into bags, and others tying them off, still others part of a chain link of people, each passing a bag down the line and into a waiting bulldozer. At other times, a pick-up truck would pull in and instantly dozens of bags would be flying in the air and into the back of the truck.

These people might make the difference between their town being flooded or saved. Over in nearby Cedar Falls, volunteers are being credited with helping save the town. Water came within inches of topping the levee. Here in Waterloo, we are near a floodgate on a tributary of the Cedar River. The floodgate has been topped and water has spilled out into neaby streets, edging up dangerously close to homes. Those sandbags we just saw at the municipal building are being brought by the dozer-load here, in a frantic effort to save this town. The volunteers say they will work as long as they need to.  More raing is expected.