(Radio Iowa) – All of the buildings at the Sioux City Railroad Museum were flooded when the Big Sioux River went over a levee in the city’s Riverside neighborhood. That includes the Holocaust Rails exhibit which debuted in April of 2023 with photos and items from the Holocaust of World War Two. One of the exhibits designers, Lou Ann Linblade, says they tried to take steps to protect it. “We went out on Sunday ahead of the flooding to try to raise as much stuff up as we could and we really believe that we were taking things out of harm’s way raising them three feet off the ground. As it turned out that wasn’t enough,” Linblade says. She says their work did help minimize some of the damage.

“We really didn’t lose any irreplaceable artifacts from the era, we were able to take all of the small items that were in display cases and remove those,” She says. “There’s some certainly some damage, and as things dry out, there might be more damage evident, but at this time it looks like things will be able to be put back together quite similarly.” Linblade says the flooding has been tough on those who spent so much time getting the exhibit ready.

Flooded exhibit at the Sioux City Railroad Museum. (KSCJ photo)

“The heart wrenching feeling of seeing that railroad yard covered in water on Sunday evening. And knowing that there was water running through the Roundhouse was just heartbreaking,” She says. “It just flooded back all the memories of putting it together in the blood sweat and tears over the last two years of getting it to the place where we were very happy with it.” Linblade says they are determined to restore the exhibit and anyone can donate to help.

“They can go to toleranceweek.org, and there’s a Donate button at the top of the page. They can mail a donation in care of myself at Sioux City gifts 91922 Pierce Street, they can call with a credit card and all of the money from donations that we receive and in the near future we’ll go completely towards the restoration of the exhibit,” she says. The Railroad Museum will be closed for now as they work to clean up and repair the flood damage.