Governor and FEMA tour flooded NW Iowa

CHEROKEE, Iowa — Governor Reynolds led a walking tour of flood damage with FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell in three northwest Iowa towns. The group flew in helicopters to Rock Valley, Cherokee, and Spencer.

“I’m honored to have administrator Criswell from FEMA with us today to be on the ground just taking a look at the devastation that happened in northwest Iowa,” said Reynolds. “I think I’ve got, I think there’s like 55 counties that are in the second request going to be added,” said Reynolds. “So we’ve seen an extensive amount of public infrastructure that is affected, not to mention the number of homes, and so we’re working with those communities. We have to meet a certain threshold and we have to understand the scope of what the damage is.”

Facebook photos have shown some state highways, including Highway 18, have portions washed away by the flood waters.

“I think you know one of the biggest pieces there is the fact that we were able to expedite your request because that really gets the resources moving into these communities to help them with their, not just recovery, but the response we’re still in this response phase,” said Criswell.

“My very best guess at this point is we have about 60 houses that I would say are going to be catastrophic, most likely losses, those kinds of houses that they actually had water up over the kitchen cabinets,” said Justin Pritts, Cherokee County Emergency Management Director.

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