Steve Buttry is editor of The Gazette and GazetteOnline, where an earlier version of this column appeared. Reach him via e-mail at Steve.Buttry@gazcomm.com.

An editor on his first day at a new job finds that he'll be working with talented and resourceful staffers who turn in great work under the worst of circumstances

THE BRIDGES, DAMS AND LEVEES  of Eastern Iowa couldn't handle a 500-year flood. But The Gazette staff could.

My first day on the job was Tuesday, June 10, as the Cedar River was spilling out of its banks in Waterloo and Cedar Falls, upstream from my new home in Cedar Rapids. By my third day, downtown Cedar Rapids was underwater, along with several landmarks and neighborhoods.

While the timing of my arrival was the focus of some media inquiries and an Editor & Publisher story (published online on June 13), I wanted to steer the spotlight to my staff (every journalist should be on the other side of the notebook now and then). The truth is that The Gazette and GazetteOnline covered our community's historic disaster with the staff I found when I arrived. I hope to have an impact in Cedar Rapids eventually, but a new editor pretty much has to play the hand he is dealt when a breaking story is unfolding. I was dealt several decks worth of aces.

Space does not allow me to praise all the staff members who labored mightily to cover this event online and in print, to keep power running our computers, to produce and deliver our newspaper and to keep our staff supplied with food and drink. To tell the truth, I don't even know all the tales of heroism by Gazette staff members because many were too busy and too modest to tell them all.

When I came in the alley door right around 7 a.m. June 12 and heard a loud motor in the basement, I knew that something was wrong and that someone was already working on it. Ken White and his facilities staff had a generator going to keep our computers operating after the downtown area lost power. Within minutes, the facilities and information technology staffs were stringing extension cords through the newsroom and had our computers back up. Throughout the day and into the night, they kept doing amazing work I did not even understand to keep our ship afloat (bad pun; sorry).

I'm not proud of the fact that I can't recall any of the facilities directors of the six newspapers I worked at before coming to The Gazette. Clearly, I was one of those newsroom types who took for granted the work of people who kept the buildings running. But Ken White became my new hero after watching the work by him and his staff to keep power going in our building and keep water out. (Two weeks later, as I write this, we're still operating on a generator and using portable toilets on the back dock.)

Once the extension cords provided power, Online Operations Editor Jason Kristufek led a performance by GazetteOnline that smashed records right along with the surging floodwaters. The Internet is too new to call anything a 500-year performance, but like the waters, GazetteOnline surged past all previous levels. On June 12 alone, 111,135 unique users viewed more than 1.5 million pages at GazetteOnline. Our average daily figures before the flood were 21,000 unique users and 105,000 page views.

GazetteOnline staff members working around the clock processed 57 different story files, 453 updates, 437 staff and user-submitted photos and four videos that day alone. We did our first live webcast and sent out 19 breaking news text notifications and two e-mail newsletters to subscribers that day.

And, of course, we published the print edition and delivered it to all our subscribers whose homes weren't underwater.

In a sweltering newsroom cooled only minimally by fans, dozens of Gazette journalists labored by generator-powered lights long into the evening producing our Friday morning edition. Even a basic task like taking notes becomes difficult in a darkened newsroom, reporter Meredith Hines-Dochterman observed.

Getting to the news was a challenge, too. The normal 20-minute drive to the flooded town of Vinton took reporter Adam Belz 90-plus minutes, contending with traffic on Interstate 380, then taking U.S. Highway 30 to U.S. Highway 218.

And, of course, we couldn't reach all of the news scenes by driving. "My rubber boots are clearly not tall enough," said mobile journalist Jeff Raasch.

"The challenge is getting there, where the flooding is the worst," he explained. "Without a boat, it's nearly impossible, and even with a boat, it's probably not too smart." We did put some journalists in boats operated by emergency crews but resisted the urge to try boating on our own. This crew is too precious to lose anyone.

As Raasch slogged uphill through the woods to reach Ellis Road residents who were watching parts of their houses float away, he "couldn't help but think of the jungle scenes in 'Lost.' "

Sports reporter Marc Morehouse, who worked the overnight shift in Friday's early hours with photographer Jim Slosiarek, told of "standing in water passing 10- to 30-pound sandbags in a line that spanned about 150 or so yards. One girl was a little less than 5 feet tall. The water went mid-chest on her."

News crews and public-safety crews each perform essential tasks for the community in a time of disaster. Sometimes our jobs come into conflict, as when The Gazette and our sister television station, KCRG, resisted the order to evacuate our downtown buildings. After appeals by our president to local authorities, we received clearance to stay downtown at our own risk.

Other times, our jobs complement each other, as when the Cedar Rapids Fire Department used Gazette staff photographer Jonathan D. Woods' weather radar on his truck's computer to determine whether it was safe to send out rescue boats through the night.

I quickly came to appreciate the teamwork that extended well beyond our news staff.

Managers from throughout the company met several times to coordinate disaster efforts and plan for the next obstacles. If we had to evacuate the downtown office or our Iowa City newsroom, our colleagues at the Color Web Printers plant were ready for a makeshift newsroom there. And this was on top of printing the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier and the Daily Iowan after floods forced those two staffs from their plants. Technology folks made sure we would be able to transmit pages to the printing plant and to operate there if we needed to and did what they could to address the frequent problems with Internet and phone service (land lines and mobile).

The production and circulation crews constantly monitored road closings, so they could adjust the routes needed to distribute the paper. Knowing that the hunger for news would be stronger than ever and that many of our customers had been evacuated from their homes, we made arrangements to print extra copies to sell in stores and vending machines, as well as to sell later in a keepsake package.

Through it all, the human resources staff kept us supplied with bottled water, soft drinks, pizza, sandwiches and snacks. They found hotel rooms for staff members who could not return home. And they rounded up those fans that took some of the edge off the stifling heat. They helped us get respirators to protect reporters and photographers going into flood zones where mold and chemicals fouled the air.

Teamwork extended beyond our company. Color Web also printed the The University of Iowa's Daily Iowan and the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier when those newspapers were forced to evacuate. The Daily Iowan newsroom borrowed space in our Iowa City newsroom. The Courier set up a temporary newsroom in Butler Hall on the Hawkeye Community College campus.

"We hauled what we could in pickup trucks which carried us out of knee-deep flooded streets," said Editor Nancy Raffensperger Newhoff. "We have been meeting since to talk about future disaster plans, which is something every newsroom should do. Ask yourself, if we had to evacuate in one hour, what do we need to continue publishing?"

The Iowa City Press-Citizen, fearing that the rising Iowa River would close all bridges and split the town, got help from its parent company, Gannett. The Wausau (Wis.) Daily Herald, St. Cloud (Minn.) Times and Rochester (N.Y.) Democrat and Chronicle sent reporters and photographers to help the Iowa City staff.

The Hawk Eye, along the Mississippi River in Burlington, dealt with bridge closings that cut the news staff off from the Illinois territory it covers. "A few of our employees now have to go up to 60 miles out of their way to get to work," said Managing Editor Dale Alison.

Hawk Eye reporter John Mangalonzo and photographer Matt Ryerson saw the flood's impact on agriculture when they took Ryerson's boat to the submerged town of Oakville. "They unexpectedly came upon thousands of hogs treading water, struggling for life, some still inside their confinement buildings," Alison said. "The squeals were unnerving. As the staffers were on the scene, the pigs began dying before a rescue effort could be mounted."

Back in Cedar Rapids, my new colleagues faced the same headaches as the people they were covering. Floodwaters reached the second floor of the home where multimedia editor Kathy Alter rented a first-floor apartment. Video journalist Michael Barnes also lost many of his belongings when his home was flooded. In all, 23 Gazette Communications employees were displaced from flooded homes.

Our staff has appreciated the support from colleagues around the country. The Dubuque Telegraph Herald sent a truckload of bottled water, hand sanitizer, cots, blankets and fruit the week of the flood crest, then sent a reporter and photographer the next week to provide some relief for our exhausted staff. The San Diego Union-Tribune, Omaha World-Herald and Roanoke Tribune (all veterans of covering recent local disasters or mass murders) sent care packages.

ASNE, Associated Press Managing Editors and press associations around the country and beyond have encouraged contributions to an Iowa Newspaper Foundation fund to help Iowa news media employees and carriers displaced by the floods.

The support that meant the most to us came from colleagues who dealt with our nation's most notorious flood. I was overwhelmed by a phone call from Jennifer Brown, a copy editor at the Times-Picayune who lost her home when Hurricane Katrina inundated New Orleans in 2005. Times-Picayune staff members were collecting donations for care packages and wanted to know what our displaced employees needed.

Dan Shea, managing editor/news at the Times-Picayune, sent an e-mail praising our coverage and offering encouragement. Shortly after receiving the e-mail the evening of Friday, June 13, I called for attention and read the message aloud in the newsroom:

"We have a terrible sense of déjà vu seeing the photos of the flooding in your city. One which was especially similar to a New Orleans photo from August 2005 ran on Page One today with the headline, 'We feel your pain.' Journalists here are admiring your work as you cope with such an overwhelming story that affects so many. We've been there, and know how hard it is. Congratulations of your fine efforts."

The staff responded with appreciative applause.

I endured lots of lighthearted comments from colleagues during my first week at work, noting the odd timing of my start. Some suggested that I might be reconsidering my decision to come to The Gazette. No way. I am delighted and honored to be working with this outstanding team. I am grateful for the experience I shared with my staff in our first weeks together.

I look forward to working with this staff in a normal week. Whatever that is, and whenever it might return. *