The University of Iowa plans to close the arts campus by the end of business Friday, May 31, based on forecasts regarding the flow and elevation of the Iowa River through Iowa City by early next week.

Art Building West, the Museum of Art (being used temporarily by the School of Music), and the Theatre Building will be vacated and closed by 5 p.m. Friday and remain closed until further notice. University officials are working with administrators, faculty, and staff to coordinate the effort and, where needed, find storage for items like musical instruments and equipment and alternative office space, classrooms and rehearsal or performance space.

In addition to the invisible wall at Art Building West, the UI will begin installing HESCO barriers at the Art Building, Theatre Building, Museum of Art and Hancher-Voxman-Clapp complex, where preparations are under way to remove asbestos ahead of its planned demolition.

Work on the HESCO barriers around Mayflower is expected to wrap up late Wednesday, as is the relocation of 84 students and conference participants currently in the dorm.

Other actions taken or under way include:

• Sandbagging of the water plant intake near the UI Main Library.
• Elevation of equipment and other preparations of the P. Sue Beckwith, M.D., Boathouse.
• Plugging of drains and other actions to prevent water from backing up into other buildings along the Iowa River.
• Relocation of materials from the lower level of the UI Main Library to higher floors.
• Closure of the UI Theatre Building parking lot fronting Riverside Drive (Lot 28) and the southwest corner of UI Parking Lot 3 (south of the UI Main Library).

The decision to close the arts campus was based on several factors: a combination of saturated ground, plans by the U.S. Corps of Engineers to increase its release of water from the Coralville Reservoir, and 2-4 inches of predicted rainfall in the area over the next two days.

The Corps increased the reservoir outflow to 10,000 cubic feet per second (cfs) Wednesday morning and plans to increase it to 12,000 cfs Thursday, in an effort to keep the reservoir’s water levels below the top of the 712 foot spillway.

If rainfall and other factors risk pushing water levels over the spillway, the Corps of Engineers could raise outflow to the maximum 20,000 cfs early next week. That number, 20,000, is a trigger for a number of protective measure on the UI campus drawn up after the 2008 floods, including shoring up the arts buildings with temporary walls and relocating people and susceptible content to higher ground.

“We would rather be safe than sorry, which is why we’re exercising an abundance of caution in our flood preparation work,” says Rod Lehnertz, director of Planning Design & Construction in UI Facilities Management.

A media briefing is scheduled again for 3 p.m. Thursday, May 30, in 2520D University Capitol Centre to provide additional updates.

Meanwhile, campus operations—including UI Hospitals and Clinics—are continuing as scheduled, although visitors are encouraged to stay apprised of updates viaIowa Now ( now.uiowa.edu/keywords/flood-updates-2013) and Twitter (@uiowa, #uifloodupdates).

For information about road, sidewalk, parking lot, elevator, and business entrance closures, UI Facilities Management offers subscriptions to its Access & Construction listserve alerts. To sign up, visit www.facilities.uiowa.edu/closures/.

To view online, interactive flood modeling maps for Iowa City and other communities throughout Iowa, visit iowafloodcenter.org/.