(Des Moines)– Governor Kim Reynolds gave an update during a press conference this (Thurs.) morning on concerns spelled out in a letter from the Okoboji City Council regarding flood damage and ongoing high water in the Iowa Great Lakes. One of the items she addressed is new efforts to move along the permitting process for a bridge at the Lower Gar outlet…
“The DNR has been working diligently with them and the team. They’re ready to approve the permit as soon as they receive some outstanding information from the county. We sat down with them last night. We walked through what that information was and so Director Lyon is working very closely with the county. We’re going to follow up with the information that we’re waiting on, we should have that hopefully shortly and that will be another box that we can check and move forward again.”
While she didn’t go into detail, Reynolds also addressed debris removal from the Iowa Great Lakes…
“Additionally Kayla and her team, the DNR, have been removing debris that impedes navigation on the lakes. We know that’s really important to get that dangerous material out of the way, and they continue to work with the city to just talk about what we do with some of the debris that’s now along the shoreline. And finally, DNR Director Lyon visited the lake region, she’s done this a couple weeks ago, has visited the lake region to really survey the damage to the shoreline and her team has completed an initial analysis. They then put the data in the GIS system. They’re working with a contractor that they’ve located that really has the expertise and has done this type of work in other states.”
Reynolds added that contractor will provide some other information needed for shoreline restoration…
“They’ll provide a drone-generated 3-D analysis. It will be conducted to provide a more complete picture of what the need is and in addition to that, a cost analysis so that we can really begin to move forward and address something that they’re really concerned about and that’s erosion of the shoreline and especially the tow.”
The Governor also today announced some temporary and long term housing assistance programs for counties that have received a Presidential disaster declaration, along with one that provides assistance to farmers who were impacted in those same counties.
