Upset McCook Lake residents meet with county official

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — Upset McCook Lake residents and homeowners met with the Union County Emergency Manager for the first time after flooding wreaked havoc on homes and streets in the area.

According to homeowners, Wednesday was the first time they’ve met with county officials since the flooding concerns started Saturday afternoon. You can see the heated meeting in the photo below.

KELOLAND News was at Northshore Drive Wednesday morning and will have more reaction from homeowners with the McCook Lake Association and the latest developments from officials in the area.

You can hear the full thoughts shared by McCook Lake homeowner Pam Kayl in the video attached below.

Kayl expressed her frustration with the lack of communication between government officials and homeowners in the area. She called the communication the past few days “beyond awful.”

“There are no resources. The National Guard is not going to be sent here to help us. We’re on our own,” Kayl said. “Many people including myself, cancelled our flood insurance, which was the stupidest thing I’ve ever done.”

Kayl said officials moved the McCook Lake homes out of the flood plain years ago and that’s what led her and others to cancel flood insurance.

“Not that flood insurance will cover much, but it would have been something,” Kayl said. “Iowa is rocking it. They’re getting all the support out to their people a day after happened. We cannot go on FEMA and sign up for help.”

During a news conference on Tuesday, Gov. Kristi Noem said at least “a couple dozen homes” were destroyed at McCook Lake.

“McCook Lake ended up taking a bigger brunt than what was expected and we saw some losses,” Noem said. “It did allow us to protect all of North Sioux City and the industrial park that was there.”

On Wednesday morning, engineers found air pockets under North Shore Drive and have concerns about the entire street collapsing. All the residents around McCook Lake are being told to leave the area. During the meeting with Union County Emergency Manager Jason Westcott, Westcott defended the state’s decision to move people out of their homes near McCook Lake.

“That North Shore Drive is completely wiped out,” Noem said. “Those families have a real tragic situation on their hands.”

Westcott said the land that looks stable is not, around North Shore Drive.

“We’re just short on resources to be able to rescue,” Westcott said. “It may not even be able to do a recovery in this area.”

Westcott said everyone is upset with the flooding.

“This is a tragedy that occurred,” Westcott said. “We have a lot of processes that have to play out. Those processes are all in action. There are a lot of things happening behind the scenes that people are not aware of that are happening at the state level, at the county level and at the city level. We have to let those processes play out.”

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