Northwest Iowa rivers are flooding homes and farms. Now the water is moving downstream

Follow the latest reporting on the flooding in northwest Iowa from IPR.

This story was last updated on Monday, June 24 at 4:15 p.m. We will continue to update as more information becomes available.

Gov. Kim Reynolds has expanded her state disaster proclamation for flooding in western Iowa to include five more counties on the Missouri River, where water levels are still rising. With the addition of Fremont, Mills, Pottawattamie, Harrison and Monona, the disaster proclamation now covers a 27-county area. Army Corps of Engineers officials are not expecting major flooding along the Missouri, but levee systems along the river's banks are under watch.

In Rock Valley, volunteers were welcomed Monday to start helping clean up. An estimated 500 homes were flooded in the Sioux County community. Steve Gacke has been flooded before, but he does not carry flood insurance. This time he’s thinking about leaving Rock Valley.

"I don’t know what the city’s going to do," Gacke said. "I don’t’ think people are going to want to live there anymore because it happens so often. It’s 10 years to this weekend where we had the other (flood). Something's got to change. We don’t want to stay here."

On Saturday, the Rock River crested in Rock Valley nearly five feet higher than in the flood in 2014.

No deaths have been reported from the widespread flooding in Iowa, but one person is confirmed missing in Rock Valley. Radio Iowa reports the driver of a submerged vehicle in Spencer also has not been found.

Some residents evacuated in Sioux City

Emergency officials in Woodbury County have started evacuating people out of the Riverside area on the north side of Sioux City.

Other residents in the neighborhood on the Big Sioux River have been told to prepare to leave if water levels keep rising. For now, officials say they are going door to door to evacuate people as needed. Water levels on the river have “stabilized,” but are not yet falling.

The Tyson Events Center in Sioux City is open as a shelter for people who are forced to evacuate or voluntarily leave their homes.

Reynolds visiting flooded towns

Gov. Kim Reynolds plans to visit northwest Iowa on Monday to speak with local officials about the flood response in Hawarden, Rock Valley, Rock Rapids, Spencer and Cherokee.

The Red Cross opened a shelter in a high school in Correctionville for people displaced by the Little Sioux River as it approaches a record flood level.

Rock Valley is looking for volunteers to help with cleanup starting Monday morning. Anyone interested in helping to clear debris should enter the town from the south and check in at the Cooperative Farmers Elevator.

Some flooded communities have reported they are no longer in need of physical donations, or will make specific requests as needed. Iowa Director of Homeland Security John Benson said physical donations can burden communities already overwhelmed by disaster response. Groups that have items they want to donate should first check to make sure they are bringing things the community needs.

Benson said cash donations give local officials more flexibility to cover immediate and long term costs. Iowa Homeland Security plans to post information online about items communities need as well as verified flood recovery funds that are taking donations.

Big rains flood northwest Iowa

Flooding in northwest Iowa broke records over the weekend after storms dropped 10 inches of rain — up to 15 inches in some areas — across parts of Nebraska, South Dakota, Minnesota and Iowa.

Homes and farms are underwater along multiple rivers, including the Little Sioux, the Big Sioux and the Rock. Forecasters expect the high water to threaten communities downstream over the next several days.

Gov. Reynolds said the sudden surge of water drove the rivers to levels surpassing the flood of 1993, which has long been a high water mark for the state.

“In almost every community impacted, the rivers crested several feet above record levels from the floods of 1993,” Reynolds said Sunday in a press conference with other state officials at the State Emergency Operations Center in Johnston. “In fact, we had 16 flood gauges that recorded historic levels.”

According to Reynolds, 250 people were saved in water rescues in northwest Iowa on Saturday. More than 1,000 flood victims stayed in community shelters Saturday night. At least 1,900 properties were flooded based on early estimates, in addition to large areas of farmland.

In Spencer, flood waters divided one side of the town from the other. In Rock Valley, the Rock River topped its previous record flood level by nearly 5 feet.

One of the communities hit hardest by flooding over the weekend was Rock Rapids. The community of about 4,000 in Sioux County is familiar with flooding after dealing with problems in 2014 and 2018. A new berm built after record-breaking flooding did not hold up against the Rock River early on Saturday.

About 500 homes were flooded, including one owned by Jeri Boeve, who was rescued by boat Saturday morning.

“Not surprised it broke with that much rain behind it,” Boeve said. “It was just too much weight. Millions of tons of pressure from the water. There's nothing the city could have done.”

Boeve was able to return to her property Sunday to start clean-up.

“ Right now, everybody in our neighborhood is pumping out their basements. We had about 5 feet of water in our basement.”

Jaselyn Wissink and other volunteers helped clean sewage out of Ransom Church in Rock Rapids on Sunday afternoon. Her own home also saw a sewer surge on Friday morning after a first round of flooding on Thursday, followed by even more on Saturday.

“You know, people should just really keep northwest Iowa in their thoughts and prayers,” Wissink said. “It’s really tough.”

Wissink said many businesses in town are damaged or destroyed after water flowed even higher than record-breaking flooding a decade ago. At that time, dozens of homes had to be torn down.

Floods moving downriver

Emergency officials are warning that the historic flooding that hit in northwest Iowa over the weekend will work its way downstream over the next several days.

Water levels are dropping on some rivers, but the Little Sioux is not expected to crest until Tuesday evening. A forecast for the West Fork of the Des Moines River is predicting a new record high at Humboldt sometime mid-week.

With a chance for more rain on the way, Iowa Director of Homeland Security and Emergency Management John Benson said he is talking with emergency officials in both western and eastern Iowa to prepare for more high water.

Benson said it will take time for flooding to work through the system.

“This flood is not over,” Benson said. “Right now everything you see in northwest Iowa is getting dumped into the Missouri River. If you go look at the river gauges in the Missouri, they are going up and they are going to go up quickly.”

On the Missouri River in western Iowa, the Army Corps of Engineers is sending out levee surveillance teams. The Missouri is expected to crest at minor or moderate levels of flooding. An Army Corps official said no major impacts are expected as long as the levees along the river hold.

Reynolds seeks another disaster declaration

Gov. Reynolds is requesting federal assistance in the wake of the historic flooding. She announced on Sunday that she is seeking a major disaster declaration from the White House that would allow for individual and small business assistance in nine counties: Buena Vista, Clay, Dickinson, Emmet, Lyon, O’Brien, Osceola, Plymouth and Sioux.

A 22-county area is part of a request for assistance rebuilding public infrastructure. At least ten community water system were forced to shut down due to flooding. Reynolds said officials cannot yet estimate the amount of damage to roads, bridges and highways.

If granted, this would be the third federal disaster declared in Iowa since April, following a string of devastating tornadoes.

Kelly Garcia, Iowa’s director of Health and Human Services, said the state will also apply for disaster food assistance if the presidential disaster declaration is granted.

Eligibility for Disaster SNAP, or D-SNAP, considers financial and property losses, Garcia said. It also allows families to purchase prepared food. That’s not allowed under the normal SNAP program, but is meant to help families displaced from their homes who are temporarily living in a hotel or a shelter.

This story has been corrected to reflect the location where photos of flooding were taken. The photos were in Sioux Rapids, not Rock Rapids.