Home and business owners around northeast Iowa are cleaning up after record rainfall last week and the fallout from the Lake Delhi Dam burst. Flooding along the Maquoketa River invaded up to 30 homes and 20 businesses in Monticello.
Bobby Tuetken, owner of the Blue Inn, was hoping sandbags and pumps would save his business – but he learned the battle would be lost early this morning. “About three o’clock in the morning, my brother and nephew were out here and knew that we were pumping just to pump…it wasn’t keeping up so we got ourselves out just to be safe,” Tuetken said.
Beds, carpeting and furniture inside the Blue Inn are now ruined. Tuetken says he’s been too busy to think about a damage estimate. “I’m sure it’s going to be pushing $100,000 plus, but it’s hard to say. I haven’t had time to play with a calculator yet, I’m just cleaning,” Tuetken said.
The early estimate on damage to Monticello’s water treatment plant is $4,000. The plant quit working on Saturday when it went under water. Monticello Public Works Director Dana Edwards is asking for help from residents who are hooked into the plant. Customers are being told to conserve water as everthing sent down the drain is pumped into the river.
In Maquoketa, it appears sandbagging efforts saved that city’s wastewater treatment and municipal utility plants. The river crested at a record 35.26 feet in Maquoketa this morning.
The Wapsipinicon River is expected to crest at 25.9 feet in Anamosa sometime overnight. That level would be close to the record of 26.18 feet set in 2008. No serious flooding is expected in Anamosa, according to Brenda Leonard, Jones County’s Emergency Management Coordinator.
(by KCRG-TV)