Gov. Reynolds visits Spencer as residents recover

SPENCER, Iowa (KCAU) — As water levels drop in northwest Iowa, the grueling process of cleaning and rebuilding begins.

Many Spencer residents today visited their homes Thursday for the first time since last weekend. Small mountains of furniture, appliances and other ruined materials were piled up curbside.

On the banks of the Little Sioux and Ocheyedan river, Spencer has experienced flooding before, but nothing like these historic levels. One Spencer residents said he knows he’ll be remodeling his entire basement, but many of the items lost are replaceable.

“The stove and the refrigerator, and washer and dryer, that’s all shot,” resident Leonard Rust said. “So we have to replace that. And the water heater, of course, and now the furnace. Anything down there, I guess.”

Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds and FEMA toured the washed-out Spencer neighborhoods Thursday, offering hugs and handshakes to flood victims along the way. Reynolds outlined the many natural disasters that have impacted Iowa over the last month and said she’s working around the clock to help Iowans.

“There has been a tremendous amount of public infrastructure that has been impacted by these disasters,” Reynolds said. “And so it’s critical that we have the public assistance with the disaster declaration. We got an original nine counties on it, and we’re circling back to get some that we weren’t able to get on the first one just to get it going, but we’re working on that, working with FEMA… my message is just we’re here, we’re going to continue to be here.”

Before arriving in Spencer, Reynolds also made stops in Rock Valley and Cherokee.

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