(Spirit Lake)– The dollar amount of damage to infrastructure caused by the flooding is starting to add up. In fact, Dickinson County Emergency Management Coordinator Mike Ehret says they’re thinking about seeking a federal disaster declaration along with some other counties in the region…
“We have some leg work to do on our end, we’ve got to gather up a lot of data. I’ve asked the cities and the county and utility entities like that to start compiling damages and costs and things like that since Monday morning’s storm. We’ll get all of that put together, we’ll start talking with the state office and letting them know what we’re seeing. With counties to the west of us having damages this morning from all the heavy rain and flooding, it makes it a little more likely that something might happen. We’ve got certain thresholds we have to meet with the state. We have to have a certain dollar amount of damages here and then there has to be a certain dollar amount statewide before we could get a federal declaration, so there’s some hoops to jump through yet but we’re starting that process.”
Ehret says a number of Dickinson county roads have water over them. He urges anyone who comes across an area with water over it to turn around and find another route. He adds he’s concerned that even more damage is likely to occur overnight tonight (Fri.). He’s says there’s an additional threat with severe weather in the forecast…
“I just want to caution people that with the ground as saturated as it is, if we get the high winds that are possible with a thunderstorm, it’s a lot easier right now for trees to fall over. I’m talking entire trees because the ground is so soft. I would just urge everybody if you’re camping, I don’t care if you’re in a tent or camper, if we have storms coming in it would be a good idea probably to just leave the campground and go seek shelter somewhere in a sturdy building. It’s a big threat right now with these trees if we do get high winds.”
So far, at least as of this (Fri.) afternoon, DNR officials say they haven’t heard of any major issues with shoreline erosion on the Iowa Great Lakes.
