Across much of northern Iowa, residents continue to clean out flooded basements from heavy rains that hit Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. Vicki Boyington, the city administrator in the Wright County town of Clarion, says this week’s storm is the worst she’s seen.
“I’ve worked at city hall for 35 years and I have never seen one of this magnitude,” Boyington said. Clarion received 4.2 inches of rain during the overnight hours. Governor Culver, in response to recent storms, issued emergency disaster proclamations for Ringgold, Union, Taylor, Hancock, Wright and Franklin Counties.
Boyington says that will help with the clean up effort in Clarion. “A lot of people have been carrying items out of their basement to the curb. Then, we’ll coordinate with the state for clean up and debris removal,” Boyington said. A power outage in Clarion lasted five hours, shutting down many residents’ sump pumps. Highway 3 west of Clarion remains closed because of flooding.
Significant flooding is also reported in Dumont in Butler County, Hampton in Franklin County and Algona in Kossuth County.
By Pat Powers, KQWC, Webster City