Fort Dodge residents who live along the Des Moines River had to seek shelter over the weekend as the waterway left its banks. Meteorologist Miles Schumacher, with the National Weather Service, says streets along the river were underwater and many basements were flooded.
Schumacher says there was a lot of ice jam activity that even toppled trees and left big chunks of ice on the streets, but he says conditions are now improving. While there may be some showers this week, he says the flooding should ease.
“We don’t have any real significant rain, at least for the next several days,” Schumacher says, “so some of this water will have a chance to run off and that should help us out quite a bit.” In Des Moines, some city buildings that are considered at-risk for flooding are already sandbagged and the city has put big pumps in some neighborhoods to pump out the water. Winter’s almost over as Spring arrives on Saturday.
By Pat Powers, KQWC, Webster City