Heavy rain and flooding are hitting Iowans’ pocketbooks in more ways than one. Matt Duncan of Des Moines has plenty of time to pick up the debris left in his yard by weekend flooding. But Duncan, who is 32, would much rather be working his construction job, laying concrete.
"We’re mudding out. We can’t get any equipment in any jobs and in the last two weeks I’ve totaled under 30 hours, so it’s hitting me big," Duncan says. "That’s where it’s hurting the most." Duncan’s yard and paycheck may not be his only casualties.
While his house stayed dry during last week’s rains, he’s not so sure he’ll be lucky this week. "It’s weird when you go to sleep, you hear it rain and you wake up and look out your bedroom window and there’s a river — a 60-foot-wide river. I mean it was a strong current. It wasn’t just a little trickle," he says. "It was rushing water." So far, Duncan’s home has been like a little island and he hopes it stays that way. He worries, though, that the only thing receding these days is his bank account.