Federal budget cuts are forcing three flood gauges along three Iowa rivers to be switched off, but officials now say two of the gauges are being rescued.  Jeff Zogg, senior hydrologist at the National Weather Service, says they’ll be able to at least temporarily save gauges on the West Fork of the Cedar River at Finchford, just north of Waterloo, and on the Des Moines River at Humboldt, upstream from Fort Dodge.

“The Iowa Department of Natural Resources came forward as a funding partner for the gauges at Finchford and Humboldt,” Zogg says, “so those gauges will stay open through the end of this fiscal year, which ends in September.” There are about 75 flood gauges on Iowa’s waterways and Zogg says about 30 of them were eligible to be cut due to sequestration.

Now, it appears two of the three that were slated to be switched off have been saved. “To totally fund a single flood gauge was about $15,000 per year,” Zogg says. “The Iowa DNR has come forward to at least cost share on those gauges through the end of this fiscal year. It’s important to note, beyond September, their fate is still uncertain.”

The two gauges, he says, were key to the DNR’s effort to monitor water quality. The flood gauge on the East Fork of the 102 River at Bedford was turned off last week and Zogg admits, flooding there has been relatively infrequent.

“The impacts in the Bedford area from flood events on the 102 River are definitely minimal when you compare those to the impacts that may occur along the Des Moines River in the Humboldt area and also along the Cedar River up there in the Waterloo/Cedar Falls area,” Zogg says.

“However, (the gauges) are still important in some areas. We definitely don’t ever want to lose a stream gauge.” The gauges are used to monitor both streamflow and water levels. The gauge near Waterloo/Cedar Falls has been taking readings for more than 60 years.

Travel is still not recommended in Mitchell County after widespread flooding from Sunday’s storms. State Highway 9, just west of Osage, will be closed for weeks after a large sinkhole opened on the roadway. Other secondary roads throughout the county were also impacted by flooding.

State Representative Josh Byrnes of rural Osage traveled throughout the county on Monday and says a number of rural roads are in bad shape. He says there are a lot of blacktop roads where the shoulders are gone. Byrnes says, “You literally drop the wheel on some of these shoulders, you would do some serious undercarriage damage to your vehicle.”

He says the bridge in Staceyville has been closed by the county engineer and he says there’s concerns about undercutting and worrying about what happens if some of that gives way. Byrnes says there’s more than just roads and bridges that Mitchell County residents have had to worry about.

He says some St. Ansgar residents have had to deal with sewage backing up into basements, and also businesses like Bawek’s Shoes in Staceyville which had four feet of water in the basement. Byrnes says farmers have taken a tough hit as well with the massive rainfall.

He says there’s a lot of corn stalks that are piled up into one spot, and that a lot of topsoil has been washed away due to the heavy rain. Portions of Mitchell County received anywhere between four to ten inches of rain on Sunday and received more rain last night.

By Bob Fisher, KRIB, Mason City

At least 19 tornadoes hit three states Sunday — Oklahoma, Kansas and Iowa. Officials say the three likely twisters that touched down in the Hawkeye State struck near Earlham and Huxley in central Iowa and in Grundy County, toward the northeast.

There are no injuries reported, but there is damage, according meteorologist Melinda Beerends at the National Weather Service. “There have been some reports of property damage in the Earlham area and up towards east of Dallas Center,” Beerends says.

“We’ll have storm survey crews out there today trying to see how bad the damage was and where all it occurred.” Beerends says Iowa may see more strong winds and foul storms very soon.

“There is a chance for severe weather today, mainly along and east of I-35 this afternoon and into the evening hours,” she says. Large hail hit parts of southwest Iowa, winds over a hundred miles an hour were clocked in central Iowa, while in the north, Mitchell County reports nine inches of rain on Sunday that brought flash flooding.

Mitchell County Sheriff Greg Beaver says gawkers should not be roaming around to see the storm damage — and even residents should stick close to home. “I want to continue to caution people about coming over this way and traveling here,” Sheriff Beaver says.

“We’re just starting now to see some of the damage from the heavy rains from overnight. Until we get some assessment done and our bridges looked at, if they don’t have to come to Mitchell County today, I would appreciate it if they didn’t.” He says last night’s heavy rain brought widespread flooding.

“Water was over a lot of our roadways and there’s a lot of debris that’s left behind,” Beaver says. “Some of the bridge approaches have been undermined, they look safe and they look typical but there’s just no base there and we don’t want people having to cross those.”

He says on Highway 9, west of Osage, part of the roadway has collapsed at Sugar Creek. Elsewhere, at least three homes in Cedar Rapids were crunched under falling trees. At the peak, the power was out to some 12,000 homes in central and eastern Iowa.

Just last week, Iowa had set a record for longest period of time with no tornadoes. The record is now 358 days of being tornado-free.

By Pat Powers, KQWC, Webster City/Bob Fisher, KRIB, Mason City