Governor Vilsack has declared Cerro Gordo, Floyd, Mitchell and Worthcounties disaster areas because of overnight flooding. The declarationallows state resources to be used for debris removal as well as sandbaggingto protect water supplies. Pebble Howard, a spokeswoman for the stateemergency management division, says the Iowa National Guard hauled about40-thousand sandbags from central Iowa to Worth and Floyd Counties. The bags are being used to build a protective wall around Manly’s watersupply. About one-hundred residents of Manly have been evacuated from theirhomes. Manly residents are breathing a bit easier as floodwaters whichthreatened to swamp the town’s storm sewer system are receeding. WorthCounty emergency management director Steve O’Neill says residents workedhard to save the plant.Five and three-quarters of an inch of rain fell in Manly between midnightand four a.m. In nearby Rock Falls, A ranger’s trailer home was washed awayat the Camp of the Woods. Two people had to be rescued from a rooftop toescape surging floodwaters. Two two-thousand gallon liquid propane tankshave floated down the Shell Rock River and are lodged against a bridge inRock Falls.
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