Concert flood update: No cars even on Wednesday

The latest just gets worse from Grand Rapids...From the Grand Rapids newspaper:

IONIA -- More than 1,000 cars stranded at Ionia Fairgrounds will not be going home Wednesday as previously announced.

Ionia city officials announced Monday afternoon the Grand River is not receding as quickly as hoped. City manager Jason Eppler said the situation will be reassessed with a new projected retrieval date announced Wednesday afternoon.

The cars were among about 8,000 that were parked at the fairgrounds Saturday for the 17th annual Birthday Bash, a free country music concert sponsored by WBCT-FM (B-93). The river was within its banks when the parking lot opened at 8 a.m. but rose quickly because of a Friday night rainstorm and by 11:30 a.m. access to the lot was impassable.

People whose cars are trapped in the lot are asked to go to the radio station's Web site to enter information to simplify retrieval of the cars.