The Missouri River floodwaters have peaked in western Iowa, while a state request for a federal disaster declaration has headed east. State Emergency Management Divisions spokesman, John Benson, says the governor’s request for the federal declaration for six counties first went to FEMA region seven.
Benson says they’ve been notified the request left region seven and is in Washington, D.C. and they hope to learn in the next day or two if the president has granted the request. The request covers Fremont, Harrison, Mills, Monona, Pottawattamie, and Woodbury counties. Benson says the governor asked for a “Major Disaster Declaration.”
He says the request asks for public assistance for public infrastructure damage and to pay for the flood preparation costs that state and local governments have made up to now. Benson says the price tag for building levees and filling sandbags to try and protect public infrastructure from the rising Missouri River is already in the double-digit millions.
Benson says preliminary damage teams were able to identify in excess of $10-million in costs. He says that does not include any damage to infrastructure, as they can’t tell right now how much damage there is with the water still up. The presidential disaster declaration would also put some long-term federal recovery programs into motion.